Defiance

Over the weekend I saw the movie “Defiance”, it was a movie about three Jewish brothers trying to survive in a Nazi controlled area in a small forest village they constructed with the help of about 1000 other Jewish families just trying to keep alive one day at a time.

This movie taught me a lot of things, not only to value everyday of your life but to enjoy the freedoms we have every day. There were many ways these three brothers faced hardship every day, they had to feed, shelter and protect all of these villagers in a Nazi controlled area, without being noticed by the outside world, and try to build a strong community as well. One of the main factors that helped the village survive was the help from a nearby camp of Russian soldier’s whose goals were to move in and try to reclaim Nazi controlled areas.

One of the main focuses of the story was getting revenge on the Nazi squad that killed and destroyed the three brother’s family and surrounding Jewish people. They used the help from other people around the area that were non-Jewish to cover up and help hide the village from being spotted. I think it was incredible what these three brothers and a few others could try to stop the Nazi’s from over running the entire area they were in.

Eventually all this resistance would make some attention and it eventually did. A non-Jewish friend of the village had told a Nazi official of their whereabouts. It wasn’t long until a squad of about 20 soldiers had tried to invade the village, but the Villagers were ready to defend, with the motivation of surviving and pulling through they fended all 20 off.

“Hope”, this was one of the words that really gave one of the three brothers to start to regain faith in their village that had been destroyed by a bomber. With their village destroyed and many dead they had lost a lot of hope. Eventually they rebuilt about 10 miles north and held out for the next 3 years. Eventually the war had ended and the 3 Brothers had immigrated to America, to live very successful lives.

I would recommend this movie to many people interested in history of WWII, It gave a good perception of an amazing tale of a family and village with an admission to survive and never give up hope in the others around them.