Edward Zwick’s earnest epic Defiance comes ready armed with that treacherous opening line “Based on a true story . . .”, which instantly implies that the following 137 minutes of splintering action should be taken far more seriously than they perhaps deserve.

The film is indeed based on a true story, remarkable too, about a band of Jewish resistance fighters in western Belorussia who had the guts and pluck to fight a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis.

It is this lost and lonely chapter of the war that gives the film its controversial pulling power. That, and a glamorous cast of Hollywood brothers.

Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell are as heroic and resourceful as Robin Hood and his Merry Men. They are the Bielski brothers: legendary mud-spattered partisans who live hand-to-mouth in vast unmapped forests. They rob rich farmers at pistol point to feed a growing commune of desperate and vulnerable Jewish refugees.

The film is brilliant about the brute business of survival: the unwieldy numbers of elderly men, women and children who trudge through the trees seeking sanctuary. The tensions between the partisan fighters about the lack of rations and bullets are poisonous. Zwick films the freezing winters and starvation with unhealthy attention to detail.

Tempers fray. Brother falls out with brother. A rival tribe of Russian mercenaries pour scorn on the unstintingly noble leader of this Jewish tribe: the haunted Craig, who plays the conflicted Tuvia Bielski with fabulous charisma. He seems to be contractually obliged not to crack a smile for entire reels as he tries to work out how to save his squabbling commune.

Defiance, complains Schreiber’s bloodthirsty middle brother, Zus, is something that the Jews are not good at. They are only good at dying. The youngest brother, Asael, played by Bell, is crunched between the egos of his two flinty siblings. Bell is the impressionable eyes and ears of the story. He is the silent witness who catalogues this strangest of cinema adventures. But he is not adverse to a little speechifying of his own when push comes to dramatic climax.

Zwick spent ten years trying to work out a way of putting Nechama Tec’s account of the Bielski brothers — published as a novel in 1993 — on screen without diluting the cold and courageous facts.

It is a legendary Jewish two- fingered salute against the most appalling odds. But it is also packaged as mawkishly as Schindler’s List to beef up the entertainment value. The film is as much about the softening of a hard man, Craig — who is slapped into shape by a beautiful feisty woman (Alexa Davalos) — as it is about defiance.

“Our revenge is to live,” trumpets Craig sitting atop a white steed (Lord knows how he came by a stallion in the middle of this forest). “Every day of freedom is like an act of faith.” Therein lies the bitter pill, but you can’t but notice how beautifully it has been sugared. What is undeniable is the terrific cast, not least the cameos by clever actors such as Allan Corduner as the Bielskis’ old school teacher. It is the minor parts and small details that add superior spice and emotion to this haunting tale.

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette