Saltzman Sees...Defiance (2008)

Defiance is the true story of three brothers who tried to survive despite Nazi Germany's takeover during World War II.  Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell are all masterful as they bring to life a story that very few people knew about the survival stories of a thousand Jews.   In one of the darkest times in history, these men and women fought to protect themselves and survive despite brutal winter, little food and less hope.

Despite the tremendous acting, incredible screenplay and amazing direction by Edward Zwick, only James Newton Howard was nominated for any major award for his score of the film.

For one of the strongest years in movie history, with movies like Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Gran Torino, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler and Frost/Nixon, Defiance was clearly forgotten by the critics.  Like Crash is 2004, who won the Best Picture award the following year, Defiance's lone nomination came in 2009.  For that reason alone, it is certainly worthy of my vote for Most Underrated Movie of 2008.