Spring Break
'Defiance' has its roots in UConn professor's book
Kate Monohan
Issue date: 2/2/09 Section: News
Nechama Tec was 8 years-old when Germans invaded her hometown of Lubin, Poland. Nearly 70 years later, the 77-year-old UConn-Stamford sociology professor's novel, "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans," has been made into a major feature film.
"Defiance" tells the story of the largest armed rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. With 1,200 survivors, the courageous resistance of the Bielski Otriad - a group of partisan Jews led by three Polish brothers - is a testament to humanity that has gone somewhat untold.
The Bielski partisans struggled to survive the Nazis in the grey, bitter-cold forests of western Belorussia (modern-day Belarus). Tec took nearly eight years to research and interview the eldest three Bielskis. She ended up with a massively detailed book with many footnotes and historical explanations.
The film takes place from 1941 to 1942, whereas the book goes back to explain the background of where the brothers grew up, and continues until July 1944, when the Russian army recaptures Belorussia from the Germans and liberates the Jews.
"You cannot completely express through a movie the content of the book; it is very difficult, the book is much more complex," Tec explained
Directed by Edward Zwick ("Blood Diamond," "The Last Samurai"), the project took was stuck in development for quite some time. Tec's novel was published in 1993, and optioned by Zwick at that time. However, the option ran out and Zwick moved on to make many other critically acclaimed films in the meantime. But year later, Zwick still couldn't get Tec's story out of his mind, and he once again asked her to the option for the book. This time, "Defiance" became a reality.
Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as Tuvia, Zus and Asael Bielski, respectively. "It was really impressive to see such excellent acting, and how patient they were," Tec says. "To me, it was like an introduction to a new world that I had not known up until then, and I was very much impressed by the amount of patience that they had."
"Defiance" tells the story of the largest armed rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. With 1,200 survivors, the courageous resistance of the Bielski Otriad - a group of partisan Jews led by three Polish brothers - is a testament to humanity that has gone somewhat untold.
The Bielski partisans struggled to survive the Nazis in the grey, bitter-cold forests of western Belorussia (modern-day Belarus). Tec took nearly eight years to research and interview the eldest three Bielskis. She ended up with a massively detailed book with many footnotes and historical explanations.
The film takes place from 1941 to 1942, whereas the book goes back to explain the background of where the brothers grew up, and continues until July 1944, when the Russian army recaptures Belorussia from the Germans and liberates the Jews.
"You cannot completely express through a movie the content of the book; it is very difficult, the book is much more complex," Tec explained
Directed by Edward Zwick ("Blood Diamond," "The Last Samurai"), the project took was stuck in development for quite some time. Tec's novel was published in 1993, and optioned by Zwick at that time. However, the option ran out and Zwick moved on to make many other critically acclaimed films in the meantime. But year later, Zwick still couldn't get Tec's story out of his mind, and he once again asked her to the option for the book. This time, "Defiance" became a reality.
Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as Tuvia, Zus and Asael Bielski, respectively. "It was really impressive to see such excellent acting, and how patient they were," Tec says. "To me, it was like an introduction to a new world that I had not known up until then, and I was very much impressed by the amount of patience that they had."
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