Daniel Craig stars in the upcoming Jews-versus-Nazis drama, Defiance. The film is directed by Edward Zwick, a pretty interesting filmmaker. He gets a lot of flack from certain crowds. If Zwick was walking in the wrong neighborhood of cinephiles, he'd get jumped, beaten and thrown in a dumpster. But as far as I'm concerned, the guy has a safe harbor 'round these parts.

It's apparent to me that Edward Zwick is a pretty smart fellow. In his DVD commentaries and in his interviews, he's always come across as thoughtful. It's equally apparent that he and I share political and cultural sensibilities. His films usually strike me as very engaging, if far from perfect. Each film he's made is flawed, some more deeply than others. Yet, never say he fails to entertain. Zwick aims high: he wants to make you think and he wants to entertain the living daylights out of you. Unfortunately, this is a recipe for failure. It's very hard to satisfy everyone. Some filmmakers have an excellent grasp on how to get away with this. Edward Zwick isn't necessarily one of them. He comes close, though. He always seems to come close.

Many people are able to adjust their antennae to the film they are watching. I just view this as a necessity. I don't watch a Judd Apatow comedy with the same frame of mind that I have when I watch The Last Samurai. But I don't watch The Last Samurai the same way I would Seven Samurai. I've come to know what to expect from Edward Zwick's movies. I will be entertained, perhaps even a little enlightened. I'm not saying we have to lower our standards, I'm just appreciating what he does do rather than what he doesn't. He makes socially-conscious films for better or worse, and for the most part, audiences seem to gravitate towards them. He's mostly had good-to-modest success, so he's doing something right.

He's been attacked, with some fairness, for too often using white protagonists in stories that would have been otherwise more interesting with a different point of view. There was Matthew Broderick's Robert Shaw leading the black regiment in Glory, Leo's South African in Blood Diamond and Tom Cruise's soldier-turned-samurai in The Last Samurai. Yet, Denzel Washington starred in Courage Under Fire and The Siege.

There is nothing wrong with using Broderick, Leo and Cruise's characters as gateways into those cultures. Would The Last Samurai have made the money it did if it didn't star Tom Cruise and featured only Ken Watanabe in a lead role? Zwick looks to tell a good story, but he also wishes to make these stories seen.

Would I liked to have seen Blood Diamond told strictly from Djimon Hounsou's (who is fantastic in the film) point of view? Yes. Though I would have been denied one of Leonardo DiCaprio's finest performances. Still, yes. Not every black actor has the pull of a Denzel and as great an actor as he is, I doubt he could have delivered a better performance than Hounsou's in the same film. Do I feel Blood Diamond is hurt artistically by its decision to feature a white protagonist? Honestly, not really. Because it didn't feel obligatory in context. At least not to me.

Of all his films where he has come under this kind of attack, I feel Glory is most guilty. I found Cruise and Leo's roles in their respective films interesting -- if not as interesting as Watanabe's or Hounsou's, they were at least close. Broderick's character, on the other hand, is dull in comparison to Morgan Freeman's and Denzel Washington's characters. Having said that, it isn't as if the trials and tribulations of Freeman, Washington -- or Hounsou or Watanabe for that matter -- are ignored.

In short, Edward Zwick's films aren't everything they could be, but they are -- for the most part -- pretty damn good. It's a good thing that Hollywood talked about the first black regiment in the Civil War. It's good that a big Hollywood film focused on the blood diamond trade in Sierra Leone. And the endless array of Holocaust dramas on film aside, it's good that the story in Defiance is being told. In a world where Norbit sells like hotcakes, I will take the flawed, but always entertaining and interesting, undertakings by Mr. Zwick any day.

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