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I've had this little gem for a while now, but re-watched the DVD the other day so I thought I'd review the score.
Defiance (James Newton Howard): The majority of the score for Defiance exists in an environment of respectful restraint, sometimes as minimal in volume as the lone, slow tapping of a bass drum. There is very little in terms of dynamic layers to the music; Howard is more comfortable exploring singular, linear melodic thoughts rather than developing them in counterpoint or by manipulation of their structures. When the score is not rumbling in the depths of soft, slight dissonance, Howard usually provides performances of one of the score's four main themes. The most attractive of these ideas, likely representing the plight of the Jews and infused with character by Bell's solos, is the extremely lyrical theme heard early in "Exodus," "Escaping the Ghetto," in the latter half of "Nothing is Impossible," and at the end of "The Bielski Brothers." This is the heart of the score, owing not only to Bell's extremely fluid, weighty, and evocative performances, but also in its extremely elegant progressions. The sense of doom is captured by Howard in a second theme of adversity that is aimed at the darker, encroaching forces; heard extensively in "Defiance Main Titles," "Make Them Count," plaintively in "Police Station," and at the outset of "Nothing is Impossible," the ominous tones of this theme are carried by the lowest regions of the brass section in conjunction with bass strings. The spirit of these two main themes is juxtaposed when their representative instruments, while not actually performing the elegant violin theme clearly, battle at the one-minute mark in the opening titles cue. Two secondary themes are seemingly related in their intent to address character development in the story. The softer love-theme variant is heard lightly at the beginning of both "Tuvia Kisses Lilka" and "The Bielski Brothers," featuring a progression of simple melodrama that raises memories of Blood Diamond. The second theme, which develops out of the prior idea immediately in "The Bielski Brothers," also occupies the middle portions of "Camp Montage" and stirs a feeling of hope in its full ensemble performances in both cases. These sequences, and especially the one in the album's final cue, are reminiscent of the redemptive and slightly victorious quality heard in the closing cue in The Interpreter (though obviously with different soloist accents.
Defiance is a gorgeous score that requires close attention, excessive volume for many of its softer cues, and an appreciation of emotionally charged violin ostinatos and thematic performances that may border on cliche (but function well nevertheless). Howard's prospects for this awards season appear strong.
