Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber in "Defiance"

Two films currently out demonstrate the tensions thrown up by the globalisation of culture. Take first Edward Zwick’s film Defiance. On paper, this sounds like a worthy winner, Oscar material: the tale of three Jewish brothers who take up arms - quite vigorously, by all accounts - against the Nazis in the forests of Belarus. With an solid cast - Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell and not-totally-unknown Liev Schreiber play the brothers - it’s picked up respectable reviews and should have been a success. Casting aside the old myth of Jewish quavering in the face of tyranny, it was to show the world that once provoked, Jews can make implacable enemies.

Then events provided rather better evidence of that fact.

Now, Defiance is caught up in the maelstrom of the Gazan conflict. The film has taken a measly $4 million worldwide so far, after a fortnight of release. This is despite heavy advertising in London (and, I assume, other major cities). Now, I can’t say for certain that this is less than expected, or that its popularity has been hit by the Gazan affair. But it seems almost impossible that it wouldn’t be, at least in Europe.

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in "Slumdog Millionaire"

By contrast, Slumdog Millionnaire has combined critical and commercial success with its fairy tale of modern India. Much of the praise has accrued to its director, Danny Boyle. But I noticed at the end of the film an interesting credit: “Co-director (India): Loveleen Tandan”. My god, I thought to myself. Is it all a sham? Has Boyle just stuck his name on a project from his cosy editing suite in Scotland while an Indian director does all the work? My suspicions deepened when I read that many of the actors didn’t speak English. Surely Tandan must have played the leading role in working with the young cast.

Fortunately, the story seems less suspicious than that. Slumdog is in fact Tandan’s directorial debut - she’s known as a successful casting director, having cast films including Monsoon Wedding and Brick Lane. And it was in that capacity that she came on board Slumdog. As the challenges of finding an Indian cast became clear, however, her influence led to decisions that really shaped the film. It was Tandan who suggested that the film would benefit from being partially in Hindi - the fact which gives much of it a gritty intensity which balances its vibrant pallette and fairy-tale plot. Tandan also wrote much of the Hindi dialogue. Boyle, to his credit, saw her capacity to ensure the film’s serious engagement with its Indian location and actors, and made her co-director.

Slumdog seems to be a genuinely successful example of global collaboration. But I can’t help but wish Tandan’s contribution had attracted more press attention. Let’s hope if, as seems likely, the film garners some Oscar nominations, Tandan is there on the night to pick up her share of praise.

UPDATE: It transpires that Defiance was only released in most US cities and some of Europe yesterday. Making that $4 million figure less disastrous. It’ll be interesting to see how its opening weekends are affected by the ongoing Gaza situation.