The beginning of the movie is gripping, to say the least. An evil regime has taken over theBelarusand decided to target Jews. Target, meaning kill whoever they felt like killing and capture or imprison (sometimes in ghettos) everyone else. There are gut-wrenching scenes of children being taken from their parents that leave my insides in knots.

I can't help but think: what if this happened to me? What if I were taken to a concentration camp, my wife taken to another, and my two boys taken to even another camp? Or worse, what if some evil regime just decided to come into my home and kill some of us while the others watched? Morbid thoughts, but some movies like Valkyrie and now Defiance have led me to ask myself... and feel.

The Jews in this movie are not only forced to think about these issues, but are forced to live through them. This may be unfathomable to us here in the United States of America, but I am sure I am not alone in thinking I would never see the day we were attacked within our borders (9/11), Communist China would be our biggest lender, and the government would be dictating what banks and automakers should be doing.

I am sure the scenes from the beginning of this movie were unfathomable to the Belorussian Jews that it happened to. Yet they were forced to live with being overrun by Nazis. Many who were not led to concentration camps or imprisoned within a ghetto system fled to the forests. Those who fled to the forest eventually found their way to a camp led by four brothers named Bielski. The eldest, Tuvia, and second, Zus, were the leaders. The fact that they led these people to live through two harsh winters and walk out of the forest 1,200 strong is simply miraculous.

Defiance is the dramatic telling of the story of these brothers, mainly centering around Tuvia and Zus. Here are some themes that I encountered while watching this movie... twice:

Best Revenge is to LiveThe growing "gang" or "tribe" really struggled with the idea of becoming an otriat, or militia group, that attacked the Nazis and those who helped them round up Jews. In the end, those who followed Tuvia decided to not become animals, "like them." They decided that the best revenge was to stay alive. The arms they collected were used to defend themselves and to take what they needed from nearby farmers and merchants, especially those who helped the Nazis.

When I was younger I loved a movie called Red Dawn, in which Cuba invaded the United States aided by the Soviet Union. A group of young adults banded together to become a militia that successfully attacked the Cubans usingguerrillawarfare. I thought Defiance was going to be a movie like that. After my first viewing I was a bit upset that it was not, but now I love it.

I can see the revenge that these 1,200 who survived have exacted on the Nazi regime which is no more. The 1,200 have multiplied into the tens of thousands. They lived. They didn't have it easy and many of them never saw the satisfaction of out-surviving the Nazis, but they have had the last word nonetheless.

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