Amazon Prime Video original film Defiance was released December 31st, 2008.
#Defiance made $51.2M at the international box office.
rottentomatoes: 58%
metacritic: 58
imdb: 7.1
oscars: 1 nomination
golden globes: 1 nomination
Tuvia Bielski
Tuvia Bielski and his brothers harbor a contingent of Jews in the Russian woods during WWII.
“If I was a German, you would be dead. I know. Aron. Where is your wife and child? Novogrudok. She wouldn’t leave. She is still my wife. No. Do you? The police will be after us.” — Tuvia Bielski
“Aron! Aron! We don’t know he did it. But we don’t know that he did it. Machine guns? What next? You’re gonna take on the whole German army? Please, lay her down here.” — Tuvia Bielski
“I’ll go ask Koscik for food. And the pistol. Thank you. He said the same of you. Oh, God. And what am I supposed to do with them? Those policemen, were they the ones who killed my parents? Try being one.” — Tuvia Bielski
“Come on. Come. Come. I thought you were dead. Zus. He is with the other two. A wise choice for a stupid schoolboy. Just like school. I have no idea what you are talking about. Please, lets go.” — Tuvia Bielski
“You send me? It was Bernicki who killed Papa. Only four bullets. You know who I am? Sit! You know why I’m here. What am I talking about? To kill Jews. And you like your job. My father? You can ask my father. On your knees. On your knees! For my parents, David and Beila Bielski. For my brothers and for all the others.” — Tuvia Bielski
“His sons. How was what? Shut up. I don’t know. What? You afraid he’s going to spank you for forgetting your homework? I agree, but they’re here. We’ll sleep further up the trail. If someone comes, they’ll stumble on them first, and the gunshots should give us time to escape. No more.” — Tuvia Bielski
“I know, know. Tamara, you remember cousin Zus. Please, go and sit by the fire. Lazar, he’s Isabel’s youngest. And this is Isaac Malbin. He’s from Minsk. Asael! Find them something to eat! They are family. We’ll water the soup. No.” — Tuvia Bielski
“What is it you do? I see. Congratulations. As long as his village wife stays in hiding. We have food. We have food. We’ll share. Put down the gun. Hey! Look at me. Where you from? No. No. Yeah. I don’t know. It’s an armed brigade. Here? Stay there! Stay there!” — Tuvia Bielski
“We must get what we need without killing. This will not bring your family back. And I can still see your faces. What? This is God’s work you’re doing now, Zussie? We must not become like them! This truck took away Jews. Hurry. Hurry! Go! Here! Asael! Asael! Get his rifle! We have no choice! Go! Asael! Go! Go! No.” — Tuvia Bielski
“Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop! Enough! I said enough! Get up! Get up! He made a mistake! Like last night, Zus. First they will torture Asael, and then they will hang him. You know me? Tomorrow will be another mission. That was a mistake. The mistake will not be made again.” — Tuvia Bielski
“We may be here a long time, so we have to prepare. Better security. Better at getting food. Whatever it takes, we all have to participate, but we can’t work against each other. We cannot afford revenge. Not now. We cannot afford to lose friends like Jacov and Peretz. We cannot lose anyone. We will map out where we have been, so as not to visit the same farms too often, and we will take only from those who can afford to give, and we will leave those who can’t alone. Our revenge is to live.” — Tuvia Bielski
“Quiet. What I am saying is we are not thieves or murderers. We may be hunted like animals, but we will not become animals. We have all chosen this. To live here free like human beings for as long as we can. Every day of freedom is like an act of faith. And if we should die trying to live, then at least we die like human beings.” — Tuvia Bielski
“Hello. I’m sorry. Thank God. Come here! Come here. Come here. Hello? Thank you. We need to know what’s going on in the villages, where the Germans are patrolling, who the informers are. Are you listening to me? What’s her name? Chaya! You go and talk to her. You spent three days in a cellar with her. How much more do you want to know her? Whose turn is it to go? You go with him. Make sure he understands my orders. Go! Go talk to her. Go!” — Tuvia Bielski
Zus Bielski
“Shut up. We’ve got to get home. Go! Aron. Come. It’s safe. Let’s go. Stop it. Asael! Stop it. Stop! Stop! You want to cry? Stop! Stop! Let’s go. Aron, let’s go.”
“Big brother returns. You saw them? Horodyszcze. Hiding in a cellar. I’ll bring them when it’s safe. And Rifka? You are still… your rich wife. So tell me, Tuvia, why have you come back? You have a plan?”
“Tuvia, we’ve run from the police our whole life. You think this is a good time to stop? Bernicki. He always had it in for Papa. So we will go and ask him if he did it. One pistol is nothing. We need rifles. Machine guns. Just because…”
“Tuvia. We cannot feed them. And the pistol.”
“I send you for good, and you bring more mouths to feed. Oh, please… did you at least get the pistol? Then we’ll have to make them count.”
“Shit. Only one left. How was it? To kill them. It was good, no? And what about these others? Women will slow us down and your old teacher… we have to be able to move, Tuvia. And quickly. All right. But no more. Hello. Hello. Tuvia. Tuvia. Tuvia, I have pity for them all.”
“And how will we feed this family? And this one? She is family? Ah. What the fuck? Have you never used a hammer before? This is a job? Ah. Hello, boys. What can we do for you? These little shits are holding us up. You have the balls to shoot me, little shit? No. No. I want to see if this little shit has the balls to shoot me. You like to shoot Jews, little shit, huh?”
“No, we’re the Gestapo. Or perhaps you’d prefer I shove it up your ass. You know a woman, Sonia Bielski? There was a child. My child… I should have protected them. Sonia. Mama… Papa… so many dead. Why not us? Better to be hiding in the woods, like rabbits. Hunted. No.”
“You want to kill Germans? Come with me. Unless you’re still afraid to use that rifle. Blood for blood. You had yours. ‘Vengeance is mine.’ Who said that, Tuvia? No, only you can do that. Take a few lives, spare a few others… no, but at least we can kill like them. Are you coming with us or not?”
“We are the Bielskis! We’ll be back. Vodka. To the Bielski Otriad. Shit! He is going the wrong way. We can’t just leave him! How did you get past Lazar? Fucking shit. You worthless piece of shit! He walked right by you. Someone could have been killed. He should be shot! If we were real Partisans, he’d be shot. You hear that, you stupid little piece of shit?”
“Mistake? We cannot make mistakes, Tuvia. Come Asael. Where did you get these? Please. Come on. Give me that. Asael, you’ve been busy. Hello. I’m Zus. Please come. You must be hungry. Well, we’ll have to teach you. Koscik. What’s killing me is all of you talking! Good morning. Early to market? Could you spare us a little bit of milk? Comrade, we are grateful for your cooperation.”
Asael Bielski
“What do we do? Oh, my God. Oh, my… Papa…”
“Tuvia! It’s Tuvia! Papa and Mama, they killed them.”
“We know these woods. They’ll never fund us in here.”
“I told him to stay here. I miss Papa. I can’t believe he’s dead. The police captain? Koscik has a pistol. He showed it to me once.”
“He saw things. What is an otriad? Then we are the Bielski Otriad. You want to join?”
“No, no, no! Zus, Zus, I can’t breathe. Can’t breathe. Look, look. Look what we found. It’s all right. Please come. It’s all right. Shut up. This is Bella and this is Chaya.”
“Yes, yes. Chaya. What are you doing? I hardly know her. Malbin says that Piznarksi granary is full. But we still need two guns, at least. Zus. Hello. How are you? Good.”
“Leave half. He cannot go to the Germans empty-handed. Tuvia’s orders.”
Konstanty Koscik Kozlowski
“You want me not to help. I only have four bullets. Your father was a good man. Ignore the bitch. To the dead. God rest their souls. Bitch… you want vodka? I live with this. Can you imagine? The barn.”
“Working late, Bernicki. A Jew is worth that much? Do you pay more for a fat one. Maybe for a reduced price. Keep it. Please, take a look. And clean out the cow shit while you’re there. Good hunting.”
“I am sorry, but they have to go with you. You people. Why is it so fucking hard being friends with a Jew?”
The German Army
“Hunting Jews. Our new bosses are very organized. Hunting can work up a thirst. Fifteen in one day… 500 rubles for every one we turn in. Caught five in a ditch. Smelled so bad I thought the Germans wouldn’t want them. You know the Bielskis? We missed them when we visited the parents. The wife doesn’t like these long nights. Bribing an officer of the law? Hiding more of this black market vodka in the barn? You’ll keep your eyes open, yes?”
“Fucking SS never sleeps. What are you talking about? If they say find someone, I find him. It’s my job. Or lose my job. I was always fair with your family. Everyone knew you were smuggling. I looked the other way. Ask your father.”
“Please, I beg you.”
“It’s one of our, but there is no one here. Maybe he was drunk? Look for him and hurry up! We want to get to the party! Hey!”
Bernicki family
“You worked late. Tomorrow is Sunday. You have a day off?”
“Kill me, too!”
The Belorussian Forest
“The child is hurt. Be quiet. Who is he? Where are we going? Thank you. You sat in the back in school. I am Shimon Haretz.”
“I am at least half dead. I heard you speaking of your parents. I am very sorry. The other brothers? What was his name, the wild one? You are hiding here in the forest? There has been trouble before maybe? With the police? So you go to the forest. A wise choice.”
“My whole life, I presumed to teach others the right way to live. I had no doubt, this is God’s way, this isn’t. You’ll forgive me if recent events have somewhat shaken my resolve. Here. You’re not hungry? The little one doesn’t talk?”
“No. I’d suppose you’d have to say I was, am, an intellectual. I published a small magazine. Actually, a journal. More like a pamphlet. Tuvia, this is Lila. Lila is my forest wife. Interesting concept. Food. We want food. You are Jews?”
“Horodyszcze. We haven’t eaten in two days. My name is Peretz. This is Jacov. Two days ago, there were 3,000 Jews in Horodyszcze. Now there are 50. Me and him, we hid in a wall. We knew her.”
“We are looking for partisans. What is the name if your otriad? We heard the Russians are beginning to organize. And also in the Lipiczanska. The Russians are fighters. But you need a gun to join them. They sabotage railroads and kill Germans.”
“Collaborator… traitor! My truck! Who did this? Who are you? The Germans made me use it. It’s coming! It’s coming! Car! I got one! Now we are real Partisans. Cigarettes!”
“They thought you were bringing food. Farmers stop you? They had guns? Dogs? I don’t understand. The Talmud says if you save a life, you must take responsibility for it. Oh, yes. I think you do. And now your little brother is gone. Who?”
“You are Tuvia Bielski? We heard of you in Vilna. Vilna? My family is there. My sister lives in Vilna. The SD came without warning. Oh, God! Oh, God… we’ll be better off in the ghetto. There at least we had hope. No, here we have hope. Do we? We have no food! Look what happened last time! How do you know? How? We don’t have weapons. People are getting sick!”
“Or Asael. The poorest farm has more than us. In the barn. Come. Thank you. Go. And then, we fell into this horrible bog, and Chaya saved me. Honestly, I can’t swim at all. We must have gotten lost a dozen times. I was absolutely resigned to die. Tell him, Chaya. Was it not the absolute worst? And that farmer, a mister… yes. He kept making the most vulgar jokes.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that all politics is meaningless? In the West, a monster with a little mustache, in the East, a monster with a big mustache. This is all I need to know about politics. You’re messiah will have a mustache, too. And a full beard. No. The Messiahs are all in politics, and they are killing us. No, you’re…”
“And Roosevelt? He has no mustache. Hello. I’m good. How are you? This is what I ust give the Germans. If I don’t meet my quota, they’ll shoot me and my family.”
