DEFIANCE (15) Drama/Action/Romance. Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber, Martin Hancock, Alexa Davalos, Ravil Isyanov, Iben Hjejle, Allan Corduner, Mark Feuerstein, Iddo Goldberg. Director: Edward Zwick.

IN OUR darkest hours, sometimes it takes just a single glimmer of light to remind us of our moral responsibilities as members of the human race.

During the Holocaust, the fabric of society was torn almost beyond repair as entire nations bore witness, sometimes silently, to Hitler’s extermination of the Jews.

Yet in the midst of shocking violence, there were beacons of hope.

Brave souls like 13-year-old Anne Frank, who evaded the Nazis in a secret annex, or German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved hundreds of his Jewish workers from the concentration camps.

Based on the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec, Edward Zwick’s historical drama relates another stirring tale of heroism and sacrifice during these horrendous years of conflict in Europe.

Unfortunately, awe and wonder about the incredible facts underpinning Zwick’s film gradually wane as the script, which was co-written with Clayton Frohman, plods along with competent action sequences and lacklustre verbal exchanges.

As Hitler’s army marches through Belarus, three Jewish brothers escape the onslaught to lead hundreds of survivors into the dense forests. While Tuvia Bielski (Craig) and his gentle, youngest sibling Asael (Bell) establish an ever-expanding community beneath the tree canopy, fiery-tempered middle son Zus (Schreiber) refuses to stand by as his people are wiped out.

He abandons the refuge and aligns himself with Viktor Panchenko (Isyanov), the charismatic commander of an otriad determined to strike at the heart of the Nazi machine.

In Zus’s absence, Tuvia struggles to maintain control of the rapidly swelling number of refugees, constantly meeting resistance from rival, Peretz Shorshaty (Hancock) and his followers.

Thankfully, the beautiful Lilka (Davalos) and young Asael help to keep Tuvia grounded as he awaits his middle brother’s return and an end to the bloodshed.

Defiance is an incredible, forgotten page out of history but Zwick simply doesn’t do the Bielski brothers and their fellow survivors justice with this sprawling effort.

Craig lacks spark in his pivotal role, delivering his character’s emotionally charged, rallying cries without conviction – in an accent that comes and goes at whim.

Schreiber is far more compelling as a man of action, who realizes that time will not wait for a condemned man.

At least the skirmishes between the Germans and rebels are well choreographed, providing respite from the limp, ponderous dialogue.