Daniel Craig`s `Defiance` character: source of controversial debate
Actor News - 30-12-08
Daniel Craig crouches with his back pressed hard against the white trunk of a birch tree. Gripping an Erma MP40 submachine gun, he glares over his shoulder at a target in the forest.
This is not a new James Bond film, but Craig playing the lead role as Tuvia Bielski, a real life Jewish partisan commander who waged guerrilla warfare against the Germans in Poland during the Second World War - reports Times Online.
Bielski’s and his fighters saved more than 1,200 civilians, mainly Jews, and their exploits are about to be celebrated in “Defiance”, a $50 million Hollywood film which premieres this week.
Bielski’s extraordinary courage is meant to cast a new light on the Holocaust. After the Nazis murdered Bielski's parents and his first wife, that he and his brothers Zus, Asael and Aharon decided to fight back rather than accept their fate. The brothers transform fellow Jews from the terrorised, hopeless victims -- familiar in films such as Schinder’s List and The Pianist -- into ruthless fighters capable of taking on and beating the Nazis.
But in Poland, the film has raised some uncomfortable questions about Bielski’s behaviour in his area of operations around Nowogrodek between 1943 and 1945. Some Poles fear that in telling Bielski’s story the Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes from the story.
Historians say Bielski was affiliated with Soviet partisans directed by the feared NKVD, a forerunner of the KGB. He even named his unit ’Kalinin’, after Stalin’s crony Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin. Towards the end of the War, Soviet partisans terrorised ethnic Poles in Eastern Poland, including the region where Bielski’s Kalinin unit operated. Some Poles suspect that Bielski’s partisans were not only intent on driving the Germans out but opening the way for Poland to come under Soviet control.
The most serious allegations concerns the events of 8 May 1943 when some 128 unarmed Polish gentiles were slaughtered at Naliboki in the province Nowogrodek. Evidence suggests Soviet partisans were responsible, but there is confusion about specifically which unit undertook the killings - and Bielski’s group has not been ruled out.
Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) is investigating the Naliboki case and the culpability of the Bielski partisans has been identified as one possibility. Though the IPN has drawn fire for alleged bias, its investigation of the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom concluded that Poles rather than Germans were at fault, which led to an official apology from Poland in 2001.
The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, edited by Adam Michnik, who describes himself as a Pole of Jewish descent, has led the Bielski debate. The daily has claimed the Bielskis tended not to engage in combat with Germans as depicted in the film, but rather spent its energy stealing civilian supplies in order survive.
Ed Zwick, the director of Defiance, has admitted his film, based on a historical account by Nechama Tec, is not a simple fight between good and evil.
“The Bielskis weren’t saints,” Zwick said in a statement. “They were flawed heroes, which is what makes them so real and so fascinating. They faced any number of difficult moral dilemmas that the movie seeks to dramatise: Does one have to become a monster to fight monsters? Does one have to sacrifice his humanity to save humanity?”
But Poles are now taking these questions a step further: was Tuvia Bielski and his Jewish partisans involved in the 128 deaths at Naliboki? Was he a Polish Jewish hero or was he a Polish traitor doing Stalin’s dirty work? Or was he both? And is it anti-Semitic for Poles to even ask these questions?
“I believe it’s just a consistent Polish anti-Semitism and the Poles are sloughing [palming] off their own crimes of being an enemy of the Jews during World War II,” said Robert Bielski, Tuvia’s son, in Jewish newspaper The Forward. “The 128 people are in no way close to the millions of people that the Polish people herded towards the Germans so they could be extinguished.” He insisted that the Bielskis were not in Naliboki at the time of the massacre.
The subject of anti-Semitism is fraught with complexity in Poland. Some commentators claim Polish gentiles were complicit in the Holocaust. Around 37 Jews were killed by Polish gentiles in the 1946 Kielce pogrom, and over 20,000 Polish Jews were forced by the Soviet-backed regime to emigrate in 1968.
But many Poles argue they are not a generally anti-Semitic nation. No Polish organizations collaborated with the Nazis and more Poles are honoured at Israel’s Yad Vashem than any other nation. The Polish Home Army, the largest resistance movement in Europe, saved thousands of Jews through organizations like Zegota, the ’Polish Council to Aid Jews’. Over 2.3 million Polish gentiles were killed by the Nazis, many as a penalty for saving Jewish people.
The last living Bielski brother, Aharon Bielski, who changed his name to Aron Bell when he emigrated to the US in 1951, was arrested in Florida last year on suspicion of swindling around $250,000 in life savings from his Polish Catholic neighbour Janina Zaniewska, who herself survived Nazi imprisonment during the war.
Several members of the Bielski family served in the Israeli armed forces, including Zus Bielski’s grandson Elan, who recently joined up to the Israeli Defence Force.
http://www.mi6.co.uk/news/index.php?ite ... mi6&s=news
DC in Ed Zwick's DEFIANCE
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Defiance fact page on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance_(2008_film)
Its page on imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034303/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance_(2008_film)
Its page on imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034303/
"Love anyway. Live anyway. Choose to part of this anyway”
At the moment I follow all the news, so this is maybe a repeat 
Conversation With... Nechama Tec, Author of "Defiance"
Published: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:07 PM EST
Westport author goes Hollywood
By Cindy Mindell
WESTPORT - Nechama Tec was eight when the Nazis invaded Poland. She and her family survived with the help of Polish Christians, assuming false identities and "passing" as non-Jews. Tec's first book about the Holocaust, "Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood" (Oxford University Press, 1984), is a memoir that explores the experiences of her own family and those who helped them.
Three books and 10 years later, Tec wrote "Defiance," a true story about the Bielski partisans in Belorussia, who staged the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews during World War Two. Film director Ed Zwick ("Blood Diamond," "Glory," "The Last Samurai") bought the rights and adapted the book into a movie. "Defiance," starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, opens on Dec. 31 in select theaters, and on Jan. 16 throughout the U.S.
Tec is professor emerita of sociology at UConn, and a renowned Holocaust scholar. She received her PhD from Columbia University, where she also served on the faculty for more than a decade.
She spoke with the Ledger about the story behind "Defiance" and of watching her book go Hollywood.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: How did you first become interested in the Bielskis' story?
A: In my research, as I examine a subject, I come upon issues or circumstances that I did not anticipate or know about. I explore them, and if they prove to be of interest and significance, I pursue them. Indeed, there is a great deal of continuity in my work; one topic leads to another and another.
After I wrote "Dry Tears," I realized that I knew only about my own family and the family who saved us during the Holocaust. I was left with more questions than answers. And so I wanted to know what it was like for other Jews who were saved. I began to examine the two groups: Jews who lived illegally on the Aryan side, and Christians who extended some kind of help to them. That led to my book, "When Light Pierced the Darkness."
As I examined the subject, I came upon the case of Oswald Rufeisen, who fit into both groups. As a Jew in Poland during the Nazi occupation, he was a Jew who was passing, and he was a rescuer of Jews, Poles, Belorussians, Russian partisans - anybody in need of help.
That's how I found out about Tuvia Bielski, the oldest of the three Bielski brothers who led the partisan unit, and its commander. I knew from all the evidence that Rufeisen had arranged an escape from the Mir ghetto, during which 305 Jews took the opportunity to run away.
Rufeisen told me that, after the escape, he had gone later into the forest to visit the Bielski unit, mainly to follow up on some of the people whose lives he had saved. Because I always try to validate my information, I located Tuvia, who was living in Brooklyn, and called to ask him about Rufeisen. While Tuvia reconfirmed Rufeisen's visit, he also emphasized that he himself had saved many more people than the 305. He said, "Big deal. Why don't you come to me and write a book about me?"
Q: What was it like to interview Tuvia?
A: I first contacted Tuvia in 1987, when he was 81 and not well. His wife, Lilka, was very protective of him and so it took a long time before she agreed to let me interview him.
When I arrived at their home in Brooklyn, Lilka stopped me at the door and told me that Tuvia had had a very bad night and that an interview would be too tiring for him.
Because I was flying to Israel the next day, I asked if I could speak with him for a short time, just to get a feel for the kind of person he was. But she would not agree to this.
Behind Lilka, from inside the house, I heard a man's voice saying, "Let her in," which she did.
As Tuvia walked into the room, I could see that he wasn't well. He was shuffling and he spoke only in a whisper. I wasn't sure that I would hear anything on the tape recorder, yet with time, as he became involved in his story, I watched him become the witty and charismatic leader he must have been, with a booming voice.
I asked him, "What gave you the idea to save Jews?" He said that when he became head of the partisan unit, he introduced the principle of an open-door policy, meaning that every Jew, regardless of age, sex, or state of health, would be accepted into the unit and would somehow be protected by the group.
He explained, "It's very simple: the Germans killed everybody, regardless of who they were - good Jews, bad Jews. Why should I imitate them? They killed and I saved. I had my own way." Under his leadership, the group grew from 30 people to over 1,200, and most of them were older people, women, and children - precisely those whom no one else would accept.
When, after more than two hours, I suggested, "Maybe we should stop," he asked, "Why? Are you tired?"
Q: The topic of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust is largely untapped. How did you come to examine it?
A: I am a person who loves questions, because I believe that one can only learn by asking and answering questions.
A few years ago, I realized that, despite my attachment to questions, some of them made me feel uneasy, even resentful. When I asked myself why, it took me a while to realize that I was troubled by questions that dealt with Jewish resistance, which usually went like this: "Why did the Jews refuse to fight?" "Why didn't they stand up for themselves?" Eventually, I realized that behind each of these questions are unexamined assumptions. Each claims that European Jews went to their deaths passively, without a struggle. Each alleges that conditions necessary for resistance existed but that the Jews failed to take advantage of those conditions. This sort of reasoning may easily lead to some predictable conclusions: If opportunities existed to thwart Nazi aims but the Jews chose not to rely on them, the Jews must bear some responsibility for what happened to them. These arguments amount to blaming the victims. Blaming the victims, in turn, relieves the perpetrators of some responsibility for their crimes. Such questions and their implications can be settled only by a careful examination of historical facts.
In the book I am working on now, I explore Jewish and non-Jewish resistance during the war.
Q: How was "Defiance" made into a film?
A: After I wrote "In the Lion's Den" [Oxford University Press, 1990] and "Defiance" [Oxford University Press, 1993], I had people interested in options about both books. Nine years ago, Ed Zwick took an option for "Defiance," but the option expired. He contacted me again about a year ago and asked if the book was still available. It was free, so we began negotiations and he found financing in England. Daniel Craig was interested in starring in the movie, and that made it easier to secure financial backing.
I went for a short visit to Lithuania, where the movie was shot over a three-month period. The area looked very much as I'd imagined it: thick, jungle-like forests, swamps, and no roads.
I also had an opportunity to reconnect with my son, Roland Tec, who is the co-producer of the film and was working on location.
Ed Zwick was generous: He introduced me to the actors and encouraged them to ask me questions about their characters' lives and motivations.
Watching Daniel Craig portray Tuvia Bielski, I was very impressed by the extent of his involvement and familiarity with his character. He asked me questions that demonstrated not only intelligence and curiosity, but also a deep understanding of the story, which told me that he had read my book thoroughly.
source: http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/20 ... news05.txt
Conversation With... Nechama Tec, Author of "Defiance"
Published: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:07 PM EST
Westport author goes Hollywood
By Cindy Mindell
WESTPORT - Nechama Tec was eight when the Nazis invaded Poland. She and her family survived with the help of Polish Christians, assuming false identities and "passing" as non-Jews. Tec's first book about the Holocaust, "Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood" (Oxford University Press, 1984), is a memoir that explores the experiences of her own family and those who helped them.
Three books and 10 years later, Tec wrote "Defiance," a true story about the Bielski partisans in Belorussia, who staged the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews during World War Two. Film director Ed Zwick ("Blood Diamond," "Glory," "The Last Samurai") bought the rights and adapted the book into a movie. "Defiance," starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, opens on Dec. 31 in select theaters, and on Jan. 16 throughout the U.S.
Tec is professor emerita of sociology at UConn, and a renowned Holocaust scholar. She received her PhD from Columbia University, where she also served on the faculty for more than a decade.
She spoke with the Ledger about the story behind "Defiance" and of watching her book go Hollywood.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: How did you first become interested in the Bielskis' story?
A: In my research, as I examine a subject, I come upon issues or circumstances that I did not anticipate or know about. I explore them, and if they prove to be of interest and significance, I pursue them. Indeed, there is a great deal of continuity in my work; one topic leads to another and another.
After I wrote "Dry Tears," I realized that I knew only about my own family and the family who saved us during the Holocaust. I was left with more questions than answers. And so I wanted to know what it was like for other Jews who were saved. I began to examine the two groups: Jews who lived illegally on the Aryan side, and Christians who extended some kind of help to them. That led to my book, "When Light Pierced the Darkness."
As I examined the subject, I came upon the case of Oswald Rufeisen, who fit into both groups. As a Jew in Poland during the Nazi occupation, he was a Jew who was passing, and he was a rescuer of Jews, Poles, Belorussians, Russian partisans - anybody in need of help.
That's how I found out about Tuvia Bielski, the oldest of the three Bielski brothers who led the partisan unit, and its commander. I knew from all the evidence that Rufeisen had arranged an escape from the Mir ghetto, during which 305 Jews took the opportunity to run away.
Rufeisen told me that, after the escape, he had gone later into the forest to visit the Bielski unit, mainly to follow up on some of the people whose lives he had saved. Because I always try to validate my information, I located Tuvia, who was living in Brooklyn, and called to ask him about Rufeisen. While Tuvia reconfirmed Rufeisen's visit, he also emphasized that he himself had saved many more people than the 305. He said, "Big deal. Why don't you come to me and write a book about me?"
Q: What was it like to interview Tuvia?
A: I first contacted Tuvia in 1987, when he was 81 and not well. His wife, Lilka, was very protective of him and so it took a long time before she agreed to let me interview him.
When I arrived at their home in Brooklyn, Lilka stopped me at the door and told me that Tuvia had had a very bad night and that an interview would be too tiring for him.
Because I was flying to Israel the next day, I asked if I could speak with him for a short time, just to get a feel for the kind of person he was. But she would not agree to this.
Behind Lilka, from inside the house, I heard a man's voice saying, "Let her in," which she did.
As Tuvia walked into the room, I could see that he wasn't well. He was shuffling and he spoke only in a whisper. I wasn't sure that I would hear anything on the tape recorder, yet with time, as he became involved in his story, I watched him become the witty and charismatic leader he must have been, with a booming voice.
I asked him, "What gave you the idea to save Jews?" He said that when he became head of the partisan unit, he introduced the principle of an open-door policy, meaning that every Jew, regardless of age, sex, or state of health, would be accepted into the unit and would somehow be protected by the group.
He explained, "It's very simple: the Germans killed everybody, regardless of who they were - good Jews, bad Jews. Why should I imitate them? They killed and I saved. I had my own way." Under his leadership, the group grew from 30 people to over 1,200, and most of them were older people, women, and children - precisely those whom no one else would accept.
When, after more than two hours, I suggested, "Maybe we should stop," he asked, "Why? Are you tired?"
Q: The topic of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust is largely untapped. How did you come to examine it?
A: I am a person who loves questions, because I believe that one can only learn by asking and answering questions.
A few years ago, I realized that, despite my attachment to questions, some of them made me feel uneasy, even resentful. When I asked myself why, it took me a while to realize that I was troubled by questions that dealt with Jewish resistance, which usually went like this: "Why did the Jews refuse to fight?" "Why didn't they stand up for themselves?" Eventually, I realized that behind each of these questions are unexamined assumptions. Each claims that European Jews went to their deaths passively, without a struggle. Each alleges that conditions necessary for resistance existed but that the Jews failed to take advantage of those conditions. This sort of reasoning may easily lead to some predictable conclusions: If opportunities existed to thwart Nazi aims but the Jews chose not to rely on them, the Jews must bear some responsibility for what happened to them. These arguments amount to blaming the victims. Blaming the victims, in turn, relieves the perpetrators of some responsibility for their crimes. Such questions and their implications can be settled only by a careful examination of historical facts.
In the book I am working on now, I explore Jewish and non-Jewish resistance during the war.
Q: How was "Defiance" made into a film?
A: After I wrote "In the Lion's Den" [Oxford University Press, 1990] and "Defiance" [Oxford University Press, 1993], I had people interested in options about both books. Nine years ago, Ed Zwick took an option for "Defiance," but the option expired. He contacted me again about a year ago and asked if the book was still available. It was free, so we began negotiations and he found financing in England. Daniel Craig was interested in starring in the movie, and that made it easier to secure financial backing.
I went for a short visit to Lithuania, where the movie was shot over a three-month period. The area looked very much as I'd imagined it: thick, jungle-like forests, swamps, and no roads.
I also had an opportunity to reconnect with my son, Roland Tec, who is the co-producer of the film and was working on location.
Ed Zwick was generous: He introduced me to the actors and encouraged them to ask me questions about their characters' lives and motivations.
Watching Daniel Craig portray Tuvia Bielski, I was very impressed by the extent of his involvement and familiarity with his character. He asked me questions that demonstrated not only intelligence and curiosity, but also a deep understanding of the story, which told me that he had read my book thoroughly.
source: http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/20 ... news05.txt
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- Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 8:14 pm
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Daniel Craig Leaves Bond Behind in 'Defiance'
By Jordan Riefe
After stepping into the shoes of James Bond for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, plus roles in The Invasion and The Golden Compass in between, you couldn't fault Daniel Craig for taking a much deserved break. On the heels of Quantum of Solace, Craig is back on the big screen in director Ed Zwick's latest film, Defiance, playing one of three Jewish brothers who escape Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II into the forests of Belarus where they attempt to build a community among Russian resistance fighters in an effort to save their lives. After the glitzy action of the Bond franchise, Daniel Craig's latest role comes with a level of seriousness deeper than the layers of 007 given the murderous atrocities against Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
With Defiance hitting theaters on December 31, we were on hand at the film's junket in Beverly Hills in early December as Daniel Craig sat down with journalists to talk about his research for the project, his chemistry with co-stars Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell, what the real life Bielski brothers were up against, what he would have done in their challenging circumstances, and how he feels about the Bond franchise as a business.
It isn’t often times we talk about male chemistry on stage.
DANIEL CRAIG: That’s right.
You and Liev [Schreiber], can you talk about how do find that?
CRAIG: You never know it’s going to be there and you can only hope that you click on some level, and you just try and make something happen. But, in fact, it was a lot easier than that. We had about a week, I think, of just sort of hanging around together. We were doing some rehearsals but there wasn’t much time. It was sort of costume fittings and stuff. We got into each others' faces, I think, with what you do, and we just kind of tried to make some contact. We tried to make a connection. And that sort of spilled over into the set. And with Jamie [Bell] and Liev and I sort of making that unit, we just - I mean, brothers sort of beat the shit out of the each other most of the time. And we were sort of doing that metaphorically and physically.
Any reasons why it took the project so long to get off the ground?
CRAIG: We’ve been sort of talking for a few years about doing something. And last year he contacted me and said he’s got the script. He didn’t want to tell me what it was about. He just wanted to say that it was a labor of love for him and that he had been on it for a long while. You know, send it to me and see what I think. And I read it and immediately wanted to do it.
How do you create the character? Do you go in look into the history or do you just...
CRAIG: No, I spent most of last year reading about this and therefore discussing it with Ed [Zwick] and other people who were involved just sort of getting their opinions. And we just soaked up the stories and soaked up the ideas and obviously the script is a condensed set of a chain of events. I mean, all these things didn’t happen within that year. But the idea was to space it within that year to show a good indication of what happened over the three and a half years, however long that it was that they were actually in the forest.
I know that the one surviving brother, I think he’s in jail, so...
CRAIG: No, he beat the rap.
But there were other survivors of the community that you were able to talk to?
CRAIG: There was a screening a couple of weeks ago in New York for the survivors and their families and so - I don’t remember how many people went to see that, but it was a good crowd, which I missed. It was in New York, but the sort of offspring of the Bielskis came to the set for a week and sat with us and laughed with us, and sort of got a bit drunk with us. And they went off and did a bit of sightseeing for themselves, and so we connected. So that was - Well, it was very inspiring. I mean, they were sort of full of life. And these big guys came and had to be told to be quiet, because they kept on disturbing the takes, but it was just because they’re very rambunctious people.
Everyone would like to think they would do the heroic thing in a situation like this in real life. What do you think you would do?
CRAIG: I have no idea. No idea. I mean, I can’t imagine myself or anybody else in a situation like that, really, deep down. I mean, it’s just horrendous. Of course, I’d like to think I’d do the right things. I mean, that’s what we’d all think. But who knows? I mean, what’s so remarkable about this - about this story - is that I think the instinct of the brothers and certainly of Tuvia, the way we play it is that all he wants to do is run away and hide. I mean, and why wouldn’t you? And people did do that. There were many stories of people who hide out sort of literally in holes in the ground for the remainder of the war. And the forest we were filming in is close to where it actually happened. You can imagine people scraping a living down there and actually just sort of surviving. But they didn’t do that. They picked more than that. He created a community and they existed on a really, sort of on a proper level.
When you take a leading role in a film like this, what do you have to do to make sure that people don’t see you as James Bond?
CRAIG: I don’t do anything. I just get on with my job. I mean, if I made a conscious effort to disguise myself, it would look a bit odd. What I have to do is, you have to sort of take on the - let the audience watch it. The experience the audience is having hopefully will take over and they won’t think about it. But I can’t wear a beard or start dying my hair for just no apparent reason. It’s not the way I work.
And doing the research that you did, and the variety of different people that you talk to and your sources, is there one theme or one thing that they all said that was pervasive?
CRAIG: About?
About this entire thing.
CRAIG: That’s quite a general question. No. There isn’t one general summing up of this situation because it’s way too complicated. But that’s what attracted me to this story. They walk a very fine moral line, these people, and they committed crimes and they hurt people and they probably murdered people. The outcome is plain to see, twelve hundred people walked out. And the journey there is what interested me about how they got to that point. And this is what this film, for me, was the most attractive thing. Is that these people, they did bad things. But that’s one of the reasons I think that it hasn’t sort of been talked about for this length of time. I think you find that most people who went through horrific circumstances suffer things like survival guilt and they suffer things like remorse, and they don’t want to think about it. And unless you’ve been given sort of a - I mean, allowed to sort of talk about it and get it through your system and sort of have a cathartic experience, people would rather forget.
They organized a society on a socialist level, in the movie at least. I’m wondering how true is that to real life and how well did that system work for them?
CRAIG: Jesus Christ, how well does the socialist system work?
How well did it work for them?
CRAIG: Well, I mean I think that - Sorry, I’m just [trying to think] but they actually became communist. I mean, the situation was very clear - in the forest there were Russian partisans who formed guerilla units fighting the Germans. And of course they were working for the greater good of the Communist Party and the Russian system. I think they form in a very basic level, a community, but has very hard and fast rules. I don’t think you can label it. I really don’t. I think it’s a very basic form of existence. They had no money. They had nothing. They had to trade. They built. They worked. They built workshops. They made things. They traded with the Russian partisans. They traded with the local community, and they stole. And they balanced it out.
But they also, politically, had to keep the local communists really happy because the communists couldn’t give a f*ck about them. They would have been quite happy, gone in there and wiped them out because they were a pain in the ass. Twice a year they’d have these huge parties for the Communist party where there they would wave red flags. And all the kids are dressed up in red costumes and they all dance around and then they’d push them away and they’d give them another six months. I mean, it was literally that. So I don’t think you can say that there was a system they were working to. It was purely survival.
Maybe in a contemporary context it’s harder to understand what they were up against.
CRAIG: Well I think, no. Of course we don’t, really, deep down. But there is something. There, is one of the reasons why stories like this are still crucially important. I mean, for me, just doing a movie about the second World War it’s obviously filled with pitfalls, because you’re going to hit a well trodden ground, because obviously we’ve had many films about the subject. But no one’s really dealt with this. And that was one of the reasons it struck me. But it’s recent history. 20 million people died in the second World War. It’s shaped the way we live our lives. Genocide was supposed to come to an end at the end of second World War, rules were made.
World rules were made to hopefully stop it happening anywhere within the world, and we’ve broken it ever since. So I kind of feel that writing stories about people who survive it - actually, these stories that come out are important to remember. I mean, and we will be, the next 30, 40 years, I’m sure we’ll be having films about Iraq and about Afghanistan and stories that are going to move us in ways that we never thought we could be moved about survival, about the atrocities that have happened. It’s an important part of the process. I mean, we have to remember these things. I’m an actor, I only know one way of doing it; remembering them and just sort of put into a drama.
While you were on the set, did you guys do anything in the rehearsal process to get to know each other? Was there something you guys [did], like all went out to the bar and get drunk?
CRAIG: We got drunk all the time. We were drunk all the time. It’s very cold. It was, obviously. I mean, listen, one of the things that occurred was we were filming right in the middle of a forest here. And about a mile away were our trailers here down a dirt track. Now we could of sort of sat here and we could of said, 'Okay, my shot’s over. I’m going to go back to my trailer and sit in there.' In fact, we didn’t. We were on set twelve hours a day, everyday, and we just took part and allowed us to take part in the process of - I mean, sometimes we were chasing the light. It’s all shot in natural light. There are no lamps. There’s nothing. So literally the sun came out we went, ‘Oh f*ck, we got to go over here. And move!’ So everything was moved and allowed [for] open rehearsals so everybody could have an opinion and everybody gets involved. Through being damp, wet and cold, and miserable at times, we kind of bonded together.
What you were saying before...
CRAIG: And alcohol.
That wasn’t stage vodka.
CRAIG: God no, that would have...
But they did drink a lot, did they not?
CRAIG:Well, it was cold.
Is that something that was involved in the rehearsal process where some people had a different viewpoint on what they’re character might have done?
CRAIG: I’m not so sure that that’s the case with it. I’m sure people did have different opinions, but it was very much the story. In very many respects it is very clear cut, but it’s finding the nuances and finding the different attitudes. What’s interesting is we have a character who obviously - I mean, the reality is that these people came out of the ghetto, were useless to anybody. Useless. They couldn’t fight, they couldn’t defend themselves. They were women, children, old people and might as well have been left to die. But they genuinely - you know that the options were very limited for obvious reasons.
The ghetto was destroying everything that they had. Destroying their souls. Destroying who they were. And actually getting out into the forest allowed them to sort of live. But they were from all walks of life. I mean, they literally were from all walks of life - doctors, nurses, lawyers, whoever, but all with one common theme, which is they’ve lost just about everything and everybody, so that sort of brought them together. And I think that those differences are actually what we probably played upon a little bit and tried to kind of bring those out. So we made sure that there was a little bit of - whatever you call it.
In Lithuania there must have been people around that had their recollections?
CRAIG: We didn’t have a lot of conversations about it. I mean, the thing is - I can’t remember the numbers, but it’s something like twenty thousand, I think, within a week were murdered. I mean, it’s right there. There’s a mass grave that was - it’s actually quite difficult to find, but it was about five or six kilometers down the road from where we were shooting. So it’s kind of as raw as it could possibly be. And there’s the Jewish community in Lithuania, as well as everywhere else in that part of Europe, was devastated, if not totally annihilated. So it was important to be there. I mean, it's kind of how it informs the film. Being in that place and filming in that place was just crucial, I think.
Is becoming Bond like becoming part of a business?
CRAIG: I’m not a business person. I’m an actor. I’m a terrible business person.
Do you feel a responsibility when you align yourself with them?
CRAIG: It’s just work. I mean, it’s just ups, it’s just work. It’s part of what the job is. If you take on a job and you look at it, and you look and say, 'Well, what do I have to do for this job?' Then you do it. I approached it in just the same way as I approached any other piece of work I’d ever done. And the responsibility is obviously there, but there’s no more responsibility than I would actually apply to any of the other jobs I do. But it obviously, it takes six months to shoot a Bond movie. It takes two and half months to promote it. It’s two years of my life, of course, but I don’t change my attitude towards it. I just plan differently.
How do you view the success?
CRAIG: I’m very happy about it.
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/105351/ ... erview.php
By Jordan Riefe
After stepping into the shoes of James Bond for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, plus roles in The Invasion and The Golden Compass in between, you couldn't fault Daniel Craig for taking a much deserved break. On the heels of Quantum of Solace, Craig is back on the big screen in director Ed Zwick's latest film, Defiance, playing one of three Jewish brothers who escape Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II into the forests of Belarus where they attempt to build a community among Russian resistance fighters in an effort to save their lives. After the glitzy action of the Bond franchise, Daniel Craig's latest role comes with a level of seriousness deeper than the layers of 007 given the murderous atrocities against Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
With Defiance hitting theaters on December 31, we were on hand at the film's junket in Beverly Hills in early December as Daniel Craig sat down with journalists to talk about his research for the project, his chemistry with co-stars Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell, what the real life Bielski brothers were up against, what he would have done in their challenging circumstances, and how he feels about the Bond franchise as a business.
It isn’t often times we talk about male chemistry on stage.
DANIEL CRAIG: That’s right.
You and Liev [Schreiber], can you talk about how do find that?
CRAIG: You never know it’s going to be there and you can only hope that you click on some level, and you just try and make something happen. But, in fact, it was a lot easier than that. We had about a week, I think, of just sort of hanging around together. We were doing some rehearsals but there wasn’t much time. It was sort of costume fittings and stuff. We got into each others' faces, I think, with what you do, and we just kind of tried to make some contact. We tried to make a connection. And that sort of spilled over into the set. And with Jamie [Bell] and Liev and I sort of making that unit, we just - I mean, brothers sort of beat the shit out of the each other most of the time. And we were sort of doing that metaphorically and physically.
Any reasons why it took the project so long to get off the ground?
CRAIG: We’ve been sort of talking for a few years about doing something. And last year he contacted me and said he’s got the script. He didn’t want to tell me what it was about. He just wanted to say that it was a labor of love for him and that he had been on it for a long while. You know, send it to me and see what I think. And I read it and immediately wanted to do it.
How do you create the character? Do you go in look into the history or do you just...
CRAIG: No, I spent most of last year reading about this and therefore discussing it with Ed [Zwick] and other people who were involved just sort of getting their opinions. And we just soaked up the stories and soaked up the ideas and obviously the script is a condensed set of a chain of events. I mean, all these things didn’t happen within that year. But the idea was to space it within that year to show a good indication of what happened over the three and a half years, however long that it was that they were actually in the forest.
I know that the one surviving brother, I think he’s in jail, so...
CRAIG: No, he beat the rap.
But there were other survivors of the community that you were able to talk to?
CRAIG: There was a screening a couple of weeks ago in New York for the survivors and their families and so - I don’t remember how many people went to see that, but it was a good crowd, which I missed. It was in New York, but the sort of offspring of the Bielskis came to the set for a week and sat with us and laughed with us, and sort of got a bit drunk with us. And they went off and did a bit of sightseeing for themselves, and so we connected. So that was - Well, it was very inspiring. I mean, they were sort of full of life. And these big guys came and had to be told to be quiet, because they kept on disturbing the takes, but it was just because they’re very rambunctious people.
Everyone would like to think they would do the heroic thing in a situation like this in real life. What do you think you would do?
CRAIG: I have no idea. No idea. I mean, I can’t imagine myself or anybody else in a situation like that, really, deep down. I mean, it’s just horrendous. Of course, I’d like to think I’d do the right things. I mean, that’s what we’d all think. But who knows? I mean, what’s so remarkable about this - about this story - is that I think the instinct of the brothers and certainly of Tuvia, the way we play it is that all he wants to do is run away and hide. I mean, and why wouldn’t you? And people did do that. There were many stories of people who hide out sort of literally in holes in the ground for the remainder of the war. And the forest we were filming in is close to where it actually happened. You can imagine people scraping a living down there and actually just sort of surviving. But they didn’t do that. They picked more than that. He created a community and they existed on a really, sort of on a proper level.
When you take a leading role in a film like this, what do you have to do to make sure that people don’t see you as James Bond?
CRAIG: I don’t do anything. I just get on with my job. I mean, if I made a conscious effort to disguise myself, it would look a bit odd. What I have to do is, you have to sort of take on the - let the audience watch it. The experience the audience is having hopefully will take over and they won’t think about it. But I can’t wear a beard or start dying my hair for just no apparent reason. It’s not the way I work.
And doing the research that you did, and the variety of different people that you talk to and your sources, is there one theme or one thing that they all said that was pervasive?
CRAIG: About?
About this entire thing.
CRAIG: That’s quite a general question. No. There isn’t one general summing up of this situation because it’s way too complicated. But that’s what attracted me to this story. They walk a very fine moral line, these people, and they committed crimes and they hurt people and they probably murdered people. The outcome is plain to see, twelve hundred people walked out. And the journey there is what interested me about how they got to that point. And this is what this film, for me, was the most attractive thing. Is that these people, they did bad things. But that’s one of the reasons I think that it hasn’t sort of been talked about for this length of time. I think you find that most people who went through horrific circumstances suffer things like survival guilt and they suffer things like remorse, and they don’t want to think about it. And unless you’ve been given sort of a - I mean, allowed to sort of talk about it and get it through your system and sort of have a cathartic experience, people would rather forget.
They organized a society on a socialist level, in the movie at least. I’m wondering how true is that to real life and how well did that system work for them?
CRAIG: Jesus Christ, how well does the socialist system work?
How well did it work for them?
CRAIG: Well, I mean I think that - Sorry, I’m just [trying to think] but they actually became communist. I mean, the situation was very clear - in the forest there were Russian partisans who formed guerilla units fighting the Germans. And of course they were working for the greater good of the Communist Party and the Russian system. I think they form in a very basic level, a community, but has very hard and fast rules. I don’t think you can label it. I really don’t. I think it’s a very basic form of existence. They had no money. They had nothing. They had to trade. They built. They worked. They built workshops. They made things. They traded with the Russian partisans. They traded with the local community, and they stole. And they balanced it out.
But they also, politically, had to keep the local communists really happy because the communists couldn’t give a f*ck about them. They would have been quite happy, gone in there and wiped them out because they were a pain in the ass. Twice a year they’d have these huge parties for the Communist party where there they would wave red flags. And all the kids are dressed up in red costumes and they all dance around and then they’d push them away and they’d give them another six months. I mean, it was literally that. So I don’t think you can say that there was a system they were working to. It was purely survival.
Maybe in a contemporary context it’s harder to understand what they were up against.
CRAIG: Well I think, no. Of course we don’t, really, deep down. But there is something. There, is one of the reasons why stories like this are still crucially important. I mean, for me, just doing a movie about the second World War it’s obviously filled with pitfalls, because you’re going to hit a well trodden ground, because obviously we’ve had many films about the subject. But no one’s really dealt with this. And that was one of the reasons it struck me. But it’s recent history. 20 million people died in the second World War. It’s shaped the way we live our lives. Genocide was supposed to come to an end at the end of second World War, rules were made.
World rules were made to hopefully stop it happening anywhere within the world, and we’ve broken it ever since. So I kind of feel that writing stories about people who survive it - actually, these stories that come out are important to remember. I mean, and we will be, the next 30, 40 years, I’m sure we’ll be having films about Iraq and about Afghanistan and stories that are going to move us in ways that we never thought we could be moved about survival, about the atrocities that have happened. It’s an important part of the process. I mean, we have to remember these things. I’m an actor, I only know one way of doing it; remembering them and just sort of put into a drama.
While you were on the set, did you guys do anything in the rehearsal process to get to know each other? Was there something you guys [did], like all went out to the bar and get drunk?
CRAIG: We got drunk all the time. We were drunk all the time. It’s very cold. It was, obviously. I mean, listen, one of the things that occurred was we were filming right in the middle of a forest here. And about a mile away were our trailers here down a dirt track. Now we could of sort of sat here and we could of said, 'Okay, my shot’s over. I’m going to go back to my trailer and sit in there.' In fact, we didn’t. We were on set twelve hours a day, everyday, and we just took part and allowed us to take part in the process of - I mean, sometimes we were chasing the light. It’s all shot in natural light. There are no lamps. There’s nothing. So literally the sun came out we went, ‘Oh f*ck, we got to go over here. And move!’ So everything was moved and allowed [for] open rehearsals so everybody could have an opinion and everybody gets involved. Through being damp, wet and cold, and miserable at times, we kind of bonded together.
What you were saying before...
CRAIG: And alcohol.
That wasn’t stage vodka.
CRAIG: God no, that would have...
But they did drink a lot, did they not?
CRAIG:Well, it was cold.
Is that something that was involved in the rehearsal process where some people had a different viewpoint on what they’re character might have done?
CRAIG: I’m not so sure that that’s the case with it. I’m sure people did have different opinions, but it was very much the story. In very many respects it is very clear cut, but it’s finding the nuances and finding the different attitudes. What’s interesting is we have a character who obviously - I mean, the reality is that these people came out of the ghetto, were useless to anybody. Useless. They couldn’t fight, they couldn’t defend themselves. They were women, children, old people and might as well have been left to die. But they genuinely - you know that the options were very limited for obvious reasons.
The ghetto was destroying everything that they had. Destroying their souls. Destroying who they were. And actually getting out into the forest allowed them to sort of live. But they were from all walks of life. I mean, they literally were from all walks of life - doctors, nurses, lawyers, whoever, but all with one common theme, which is they’ve lost just about everything and everybody, so that sort of brought them together. And I think that those differences are actually what we probably played upon a little bit and tried to kind of bring those out. So we made sure that there was a little bit of - whatever you call it.
In Lithuania there must have been people around that had their recollections?
CRAIG: We didn’t have a lot of conversations about it. I mean, the thing is - I can’t remember the numbers, but it’s something like twenty thousand, I think, within a week were murdered. I mean, it’s right there. There’s a mass grave that was - it’s actually quite difficult to find, but it was about five or six kilometers down the road from where we were shooting. So it’s kind of as raw as it could possibly be. And there’s the Jewish community in Lithuania, as well as everywhere else in that part of Europe, was devastated, if not totally annihilated. So it was important to be there. I mean, it's kind of how it informs the film. Being in that place and filming in that place was just crucial, I think.
Is becoming Bond like becoming part of a business?
CRAIG: I’m not a business person. I’m an actor. I’m a terrible business person.
Do you feel a responsibility when you align yourself with them?
CRAIG: It’s just work. I mean, it’s just ups, it’s just work. It’s part of what the job is. If you take on a job and you look at it, and you look and say, 'Well, what do I have to do for this job?' Then you do it. I approached it in just the same way as I approached any other piece of work I’d ever done. And the responsibility is obviously there, but there’s no more responsibility than I would actually apply to any of the other jobs I do. But it obviously, it takes six months to shoot a Bond movie. It takes two and half months to promote it. It’s two years of my life, of course, but I don’t change my attitude towards it. I just plan differently.
How do you view the success?
CRAIG: I’m very happy about it.
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/105351/ ... erview.php
Daniel Craig's still defiant over film roles
Films about the Second World War are as relevant as ever, Bond actor Daniel Craig tells Vicky Anderson
HE MAY be living out every Boy’s Own fantasy as James Bond, but the action heroes that intimidate Daniel Craig are his beloved Liverpool FC.
The Wirral-raised Hollywood star could not conceal his love for the Reds when asked about his own personal inspiration.
“The idea of heroes is such a wide concept. When I was growing up, it was Liverpool FC players,” said the 007 actor.
“Most of the Liverpool squad are my heroes. I think I’d be a gibbering wreck if I got in a room with some of those people.”
After a hectic year, Craig says he will be taking January off to heal an injury – a separated shoulder and subsequent surgery – inflicted during the filming of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, released this autumn.
But that wasn’t before heading off to the freezing forests of Lithuania to make Defiance, released next week.
Based on a true story, the film is a tale of family honour, vengeance and salvation in World War II.
Set in Eastern Europe in 1941, it follows the fates of three Jewish brothers who take refuge in the woods of their homeland and begin a desperate battle against the Nazis, finding a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others.
As Tuvia Beilski, Craig is the reluctant leader of their ever- expanding group, with his decisions challenged by his brother, Zus (Leiv Schreiber) who worries that Tuvia’s idealistic plans will doom them all.
Younger brother Asael (Billy Elliot’s Jamie Bell) is caught between his brothers’ fierce rivalry.
As a brutal winter descends, they work to create a community and to keep faith alive when all humanity appeared to be lost.
“We were there for2½ to three months, and the weather got progressively worse and worse,” Craig recalls of the filming.
“We did the occasional night shoot and while we didn’t sleep out there in the forests, it was hard.
“We ate a lot and drank a lot of vodka; it seemed the only way to get through it. It was certainly the nicest way to get through it.
“After a week being in the freezing cold, stamping your feet, you kind of got into it. The forest was amazing. It’s a real wilderness, and once you get in there you can imagine what it was like.”
He says he was fascinated by the brothers’ true story, particularly the situation thrust upon his character, Tuvia, who doesn’t want to be a leader and is forced into a fight for survival.
“One of the things I liked about this part is that Tuvia doesn’t want to save the world. He just wants to survive and live, and I think we all feel like that.
“Then there’s that really fascinating moral switch which happens in his head – he can’t just save his family, if he’s there, he’ll have to save other people, too.
“The vast majority of stories we hear about heroes are embellished afterwards, because they’re good for morale. They’re good for all of us. Usually, though, the truth is much more complicated and much more interesting.
“My grandfathers fought in the Second World War and saw a lot of what went on,” he continues.
“It’s impossible not to feel some personal involvement and that’s why stories like this are relevant. It’s recent history and it doesn’t stop happening in the world.
“The First World War was the ‘war to end all wars’, and, with the Second World War, everyone said ‘that’ll never happen again’.
“And we’re doing a really bad job, because it keeps on happening again and again.”
Although it seems a world away from Bond, Craig still performs his “fair share of killing” in Defiance, and says he appreciates the chance to perform both sorts of role.
He had been keen to work with the film’s director, Ed Zwick, and says the cast gelled immediately.
“That was a great thing about this film,” he says.
“Me, Liev and Jamie are all really individual people, and yet we got on so well. We just messed with each other, in the nicest possible way. We energised each other and tried to put each other off.”
Craig says that, apart from resting his shoulder, he will be taking a break and has no immediate filming commitments.
Two things not on the Craig radar include a rumoured sequel to The Golden Compass and the anticipated I, Lucifer in which Craig was to play a washed-up writer through which Satan lived out his last chance of redemption.
Of the former, the Philip Pullman series in which he played Lord Asriel, he says: “I can’t see there being one at the moment. Warner Bros have the rights to it. It’s a shame, I’d have liked to do another – it’s quite sad really.
“It just didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. But I’m not the one who gets to make those kind of decisions.”
There are “only a finite number of good scripts out there”, he muses, despite the leap to A-list status that came with Bond.
“I wish there was suddenly a pile of brilliant, brilliant scripts being put in front of me, but that’s not the case.
“I do get to look at things perhaps a little earlier than before, but then it just comes down to a choice, is it good enough and do I want to do it? Nothing’s changed there.”
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liv ... -22590398/
Films about the Second World War are as relevant as ever, Bond actor Daniel Craig tells Vicky Anderson
HE MAY be living out every Boy’s Own fantasy as James Bond, but the action heroes that intimidate Daniel Craig are his beloved Liverpool FC.
The Wirral-raised Hollywood star could not conceal his love for the Reds when asked about his own personal inspiration.
“The idea of heroes is such a wide concept. When I was growing up, it was Liverpool FC players,” said the 007 actor.
“Most of the Liverpool squad are my heroes. I think I’d be a gibbering wreck if I got in a room with some of those people.”
After a hectic year, Craig says he will be taking January off to heal an injury – a separated shoulder and subsequent surgery – inflicted during the filming of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, released this autumn.
But that wasn’t before heading off to the freezing forests of Lithuania to make Defiance, released next week.
Based on a true story, the film is a tale of family honour, vengeance and salvation in World War II.
Set in Eastern Europe in 1941, it follows the fates of three Jewish brothers who take refuge in the woods of their homeland and begin a desperate battle against the Nazis, finding a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others.
As Tuvia Beilski, Craig is the reluctant leader of their ever- expanding group, with his decisions challenged by his brother, Zus (Leiv Schreiber) who worries that Tuvia’s idealistic plans will doom them all.
Younger brother Asael (Billy Elliot’s Jamie Bell) is caught between his brothers’ fierce rivalry.
As a brutal winter descends, they work to create a community and to keep faith alive when all humanity appeared to be lost.
“We were there for2½ to three months, and the weather got progressively worse and worse,” Craig recalls of the filming.
“We did the occasional night shoot and while we didn’t sleep out there in the forests, it was hard.
“We ate a lot and drank a lot of vodka; it seemed the only way to get through it. It was certainly the nicest way to get through it.
“After a week being in the freezing cold, stamping your feet, you kind of got into it. The forest was amazing. It’s a real wilderness, and once you get in there you can imagine what it was like.”
He says he was fascinated by the brothers’ true story, particularly the situation thrust upon his character, Tuvia, who doesn’t want to be a leader and is forced into a fight for survival.
“One of the things I liked about this part is that Tuvia doesn’t want to save the world. He just wants to survive and live, and I think we all feel like that.
“Then there’s that really fascinating moral switch which happens in his head – he can’t just save his family, if he’s there, he’ll have to save other people, too.
“The vast majority of stories we hear about heroes are embellished afterwards, because they’re good for morale. They’re good for all of us. Usually, though, the truth is much more complicated and much more interesting.
“My grandfathers fought in the Second World War and saw a lot of what went on,” he continues.
“It’s impossible not to feel some personal involvement and that’s why stories like this are relevant. It’s recent history and it doesn’t stop happening in the world.
“The First World War was the ‘war to end all wars’, and, with the Second World War, everyone said ‘that’ll never happen again’.
“And we’re doing a really bad job, because it keeps on happening again and again.”
Although it seems a world away from Bond, Craig still performs his “fair share of killing” in Defiance, and says he appreciates the chance to perform both sorts of role.
He had been keen to work with the film’s director, Ed Zwick, and says the cast gelled immediately.
“That was a great thing about this film,” he says.
“Me, Liev and Jamie are all really individual people, and yet we got on so well. We just messed with each other, in the nicest possible way. We energised each other and tried to put each other off.”
Craig says that, apart from resting his shoulder, he will be taking a break and has no immediate filming commitments.
Two things not on the Craig radar include a rumoured sequel to The Golden Compass and the anticipated I, Lucifer in which Craig was to play a washed-up writer through which Satan lived out his last chance of redemption.
Of the former, the Philip Pullman series in which he played Lord Asriel, he says: “I can’t see there being one at the moment. Warner Bros have the rights to it. It’s a shame, I’d have liked to do another – it’s quite sad really.
“It just didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. But I’m not the one who gets to make those kind of decisions.”
There are “only a finite number of good scripts out there”, he muses, despite the leap to A-list status that came with Bond.
“I wish there was suddenly a pile of brilliant, brilliant scripts being put in front of me, but that’s not the case.
“I do get to look at things perhaps a little earlier than before, but then it just comes down to a choice, is it good enough and do I want to do it? Nothing’s changed there.”
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liv ... -22590398/
-
Daskedusken
- Posts: 14137
- Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 8:14 pm
- Location: Always heading somewhere
Top 10 Movies of 2008
The Best Films of 2008
By Rebecca Murray
10. 'Defiance'
Craig scored yet another hit with his second movie as Bond, James Bond. Quantum of Solace, released on November 14, 2008, will likely finish its theatrical run with bigger numbers than Casino Royale and that's great news for Craig because it means more potential ticket buyers for his other projects - including Defiance. What might be a hard sell to audiences is made easier with the current Bond in the lead role of the oldest of three brothers who flee from the Nazis into the forest surrounding their town. Set in 1941 and based on a true story, Defiance follows the brothers and the ever-increasing group of Jewish citizens who join with them in order to survive.
http://movies.about.com/od/awards/tp/Be ... s-2008.htm
The Best Films of 2008
By Rebecca Murray
10. 'Defiance'
Craig scored yet another hit with his second movie as Bond, James Bond. Quantum of Solace, released on November 14, 2008, will likely finish its theatrical run with bigger numbers than Casino Royale and that's great news for Craig because it means more potential ticket buyers for his other projects - including Defiance. What might be a hard sell to audiences is made easier with the current Bond in the lead role of the oldest of three brothers who flee from the Nazis into the forest surrounding their town. Set in 1941 and based on a true story, Defiance follows the brothers and the ever-increasing group of Jewish citizens who join with them in order to survive.
http://movies.about.com/od/awards/tp/Be ... s-2008.htm
-
Daskedusken
- Posts: 14137
- Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 8:14 pm
- Location: Always heading somewhere
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calypso
- Posts: 17284
- Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:55 pm
- Location: Knitting willy warmers for Daniel's pickle!
new pics!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/wo ... 090656.ece
By GRANT ROLLINGS
Published: Today
FROM the terrible events of the Jewish holocaust many stories have emerged of self-sacrifice, remarkable escapes and shocking massacres.
Now a new film is to tell the incredible story of the Jewish freedom fighters who took on the Nazis and won.
In Defiance, James Bond star Daniel Craig plays heroic resistance leader Tuvia Bielski.
The movie is based on the true story of a band of Jews who built their own village in a forest right in the heart of Nazi-occupied Belarus during the Second World War.
From the secret base they launched attacks on enemy trains and army vehicles, raided ammunition stores and stole precious food to survive.
Most importantly, Tuvia and his two brothers Asael (played by Brit Jamie Bell in the film) and Zus (Liev Schreiber) helped to save 1,200 Jews from certain death.
The Bielski brothers have now passed away, but one member of their partisans is still alive and living in London.
He is Jack Kagan, 79, who tunnelled out from a labour camp to join the group, despite being just 14 and having had all of his toes amputated as a result of frost bite from a previous escape bid.
Jack, a retired businessman, has lived in the UK since 1947. He has written two books on the Bielskis and helped create an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London about the Jewish resistance movement.
The holocaust survivor is in no doubt he would not be alive today if it was not for the Bielski brothers.
He says: “It is important that people know about Tuvia Bielski. About the fight back.
“Without him I would have died. They were very tough men. Zus Bielski was the strongest man I have ever seen.
“They knew every tree in the forest, every place to go, where to hide and so on.”
Jack, whose original name was Idel, says the main aim of the Bielski fighters was to save Jews.
He recalls: “They were the only ones who said ‘if you are Jewish you can come to us and we will help you to survive’.
“Tuvia Bielski, the leader, would rather save one Jewish person than go into battle to kill 20 German soldiers.”
In 1941 the Nazis set up a ghetto — effectively a labour camp — in Novogrudek, the town where Jack grew up, and all the Jews were forcibly moved into it.
Around 90 per cent of the 6,000 prisoners were murdered by the Nazis. It was only the Bielskis who offered any hope.
Jack says: “The most joyous day was the day we heard Bielski had a partisan movement. Once we heard that we had to try and join them.”
His first attempt to reach the Bielskis, in December 1942, ended in painful failure.
A guard left the gate open, Jack pulled off the yellow stars identifying him as a jew and walked away.
But he could not survive temperatures of -30°C and snow up to his chest.
Jack had to secretly return to the camp. He says: “My toes were amputated by a dentist in the camp who had clippers. We had no medicine, no pain-killers.
“Then I had to be careful the German’s didn’t see that I couldn’t work. Once they knew that I was as good as dead. If a person was ill, they were shot.”
His inability to walk saved him from a terrible fate.
He was being hidden by fellow inmates when, in May 1943, the Germans separated half of the camp’s workers and shot them. Among them were Jack’s mother Duorah, 40, and sister Nachama, 16.
Jack recalls: “I survived the last massacre because I couldn’t walk. If I could have walked I would have been on the marching ground when they shot them.
“After eight months I slowly got my strength back, which wasn’t easy on 200 grams of bread and a bowl of soup a day.”
During his time in the labour camp Jack witnessed many deaths.
He says: “I heard the first 50 people being shot. The German military band played music as they killed them. Then I saw other killings. The first time you have a shiver. Then you become numb to it.
“What was worse was the starvation. My legs were just like little sticks. You get used to bugs and everything, but not hunger.”
Soon after his mother and sister were killed, Jack’s father, Yankiel, was moved to a concentration camp and the remaining prisoners were put on starvation rations.
A new plan was devised to break out, this time by tunnelling 250 metres to the other side of the barbed wire fence.
Work started on the tunnel in June 1943 and by September it was declared ready.
The escape was timed just right. Documents later showed the Nazi had been planning to kill everyone just days after their escape.
Many of the escapees succeeded in joining the partisans, but only 300 of the 1,200 people living in the forest of Naliboki were fighters.
The Bielskis did not have enough guns to arm everyone and because of Jack’s young age he was not asked to fight.
Instead he dug trenches to help keep out the Germans and took part in the upkeep of what was a thriving mini town.
They had a mill for making bread, an abattoir to make sausages, an airstrip, a shoemakers, saddle makers and tailors.
Their work was invaluable in keeping various freedom fighting groups fed and clothed.
The Germans brought in 52,000 extra soldiers to combat the partisans but they failed to penetrate the forest camp.
Jack says: “The forest is 40 miles by 40 miles. You could survive ten wars there.
“The Germans made a mistake which helped us greatly. In response to the partisan attacks they burned 156 villages surrounding the forest.
“But they left the crops in the ground. So we dug up 200 tons of potatoes.”
In June 1944, the Russians started an offensive to take Belarus and the camp received orders not to allow the Nazis into the forest.
Jack says: “I remember the Germans running past while I lay in the branches.
“They threw a few hand grenades into the headquarters but all the Germans were killed.”
Afterwards Bielski marched the survivors back to Novogrudek. But Jack could not settle because of the painful memories.
After the war the Bielskis stayed in Jack’s rented room in London for a while and they remained good friends.
Tuvia worked as a cabbie in New York until his death in 1987.
Jack has tried to bring the war criminals to justice, going out to Novogrudek with British detectives.
He concludes: “There is no question that they should still be brought to justice.”
Can anyone print pics from this tory? I cannot gracias
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/wo ... 090656.ece
By GRANT ROLLINGS
Published: Today
FROM the terrible events of the Jewish holocaust many stories have emerged of self-sacrifice, remarkable escapes and shocking massacres.
Now a new film is to tell the incredible story of the Jewish freedom fighters who took on the Nazis and won.
In Defiance, James Bond star Daniel Craig plays heroic resistance leader Tuvia Bielski.
The movie is based on the true story of a band of Jews who built their own village in a forest right in the heart of Nazi-occupied Belarus during the Second World War.
From the secret base they launched attacks on enemy trains and army vehicles, raided ammunition stores and stole precious food to survive.
Most importantly, Tuvia and his two brothers Asael (played by Brit Jamie Bell in the film) and Zus (Liev Schreiber) helped to save 1,200 Jews from certain death.
The Bielski brothers have now passed away, but one member of their partisans is still alive and living in London.
He is Jack Kagan, 79, who tunnelled out from a labour camp to join the group, despite being just 14 and having had all of his toes amputated as a result of frost bite from a previous escape bid.
Jack, a retired businessman, has lived in the UK since 1947. He has written two books on the Bielskis and helped create an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London about the Jewish resistance movement.
The holocaust survivor is in no doubt he would not be alive today if it was not for the Bielski brothers.
He says: “It is important that people know about Tuvia Bielski. About the fight back.
“Without him I would have died. They were very tough men. Zus Bielski was the strongest man I have ever seen.
“They knew every tree in the forest, every place to go, where to hide and so on.”
Jack, whose original name was Idel, says the main aim of the Bielski fighters was to save Jews.
He recalls: “They were the only ones who said ‘if you are Jewish you can come to us and we will help you to survive’.
“Tuvia Bielski, the leader, would rather save one Jewish person than go into battle to kill 20 German soldiers.”
In 1941 the Nazis set up a ghetto — effectively a labour camp — in Novogrudek, the town where Jack grew up, and all the Jews were forcibly moved into it.
Around 90 per cent of the 6,000 prisoners were murdered by the Nazis. It was only the Bielskis who offered any hope.
Jack says: “The most joyous day was the day we heard Bielski had a partisan movement. Once we heard that we had to try and join them.”
His first attempt to reach the Bielskis, in December 1942, ended in painful failure.
A guard left the gate open, Jack pulled off the yellow stars identifying him as a jew and walked away.
But he could not survive temperatures of -30°C and snow up to his chest.
Jack had to secretly return to the camp. He says: “My toes were amputated by a dentist in the camp who had clippers. We had no medicine, no pain-killers.
“Then I had to be careful the German’s didn’t see that I couldn’t work. Once they knew that I was as good as dead. If a person was ill, they were shot.”
His inability to walk saved him from a terrible fate.
He was being hidden by fellow inmates when, in May 1943, the Germans separated half of the camp’s workers and shot them. Among them were Jack’s mother Duorah, 40, and sister Nachama, 16.
Jack recalls: “I survived the last massacre because I couldn’t walk. If I could have walked I would have been on the marching ground when they shot them.
“After eight months I slowly got my strength back, which wasn’t easy on 200 grams of bread and a bowl of soup a day.”
During his time in the labour camp Jack witnessed many deaths.
He says: “I heard the first 50 people being shot. The German military band played music as they killed them. Then I saw other killings. The first time you have a shiver. Then you become numb to it.
“What was worse was the starvation. My legs were just like little sticks. You get used to bugs and everything, but not hunger.”
Soon after his mother and sister were killed, Jack’s father, Yankiel, was moved to a concentration camp and the remaining prisoners were put on starvation rations.
A new plan was devised to break out, this time by tunnelling 250 metres to the other side of the barbed wire fence.
Work started on the tunnel in June 1943 and by September it was declared ready.
The escape was timed just right. Documents later showed the Nazi had been planning to kill everyone just days after their escape.
Many of the escapees succeeded in joining the partisans, but only 300 of the 1,200 people living in the forest of Naliboki were fighters.
The Bielskis did not have enough guns to arm everyone and because of Jack’s young age he was not asked to fight.
Instead he dug trenches to help keep out the Germans and took part in the upkeep of what was a thriving mini town.
They had a mill for making bread, an abattoir to make sausages, an airstrip, a shoemakers, saddle makers and tailors.
Their work was invaluable in keeping various freedom fighting groups fed and clothed.
The Germans brought in 52,000 extra soldiers to combat the partisans but they failed to penetrate the forest camp.
Jack says: “The forest is 40 miles by 40 miles. You could survive ten wars there.
“The Germans made a mistake which helped us greatly. In response to the partisan attacks they burned 156 villages surrounding the forest.
“But they left the crops in the ground. So we dug up 200 tons of potatoes.”
In June 1944, the Russians started an offensive to take Belarus and the camp received orders not to allow the Nazis into the forest.
Jack says: “I remember the Germans running past while I lay in the branches.
“They threw a few hand grenades into the headquarters but all the Germans were killed.”
Afterwards Bielski marched the survivors back to Novogrudek. But Jack could not settle because of the painful memories.
After the war the Bielskis stayed in Jack’s rented room in London for a while and they remained good friends.
Tuvia worked as a cabbie in New York until his death in 1987.
Jack has tried to bring the war criminals to justice, going out to Novogrudek with British detectives.
He concludes: “There is no question that they should still be brought to justice.”
Can anyone print pics from this tory? I cannot gracias
