Defiance is a decent WWII action/dramatic picture. It is straightforward and watchable, but it’s no Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List. I’m sure it was pitched as the best of both: action + pathos. Daniel Craig is the lead and he clearly out does Cruise in at least affecting a believable Slavic accent (there was a lot of Russian spoken and maybe Polish, I can’t differentiate them myself). There won’t be any Oscar nominations, but it is a story worth telling. Some may see it as just another WWII story of courageous partisans fighting Nazis and think it a waste of time. I think we can’t get enough of this stuff. It’s impossible for us to imagine the horrors and sacrifice people made to fight evil and we should remind ourselves constantly. Whenever you feel sorry for yourself because gas is too expensive, your 401K has taken a beating, or there’s no cell signal where you are, then think about living in the forest for a few years with people trying to kill you because you were born a certain ethnicity. It puts thing in perspective. The Bielski’s, like Oscar Schindler, did not seek recognition for what they did, but they saved thousands of Jews from extermination and their children’s, children’s, children may be you or a friend of yours.