Brothers (2004) User Reviews

Parallel stories, synchronized storytelling

[diand_ · 7/10 · 11 July 2005]

It's rare to find a movie with a meaningful, political context that is also good drama. Brødre / Brothers has two interwoven story lines: one about the relationship between two brothers, the other about the difference between comfortable Western civilizations sending out soldiers to various missions and the actual war zones. These stories mirror each other and both brothers change roles during the movie: One starts in prison, the other ends up there; one is a family man; the other takes over this role after his brother's death. There is a nice ending, but I find that the only element not fitting the overall structure.

I like this also because it is well edited. Synchronization of images is used to tell the story of Michael in Afghanistan and Sarah in Denmark. Frequently a shot of Afghanistan is shown and directly followed by the same shot in Denmark: looking at a road, from a bus or car, etc.

Initially rhythm is established through a central 'Afghan' theme song. Once the characters are established in our minds, the acting takes over. I'm still wondering why Danish actors (and Scandinavian actors in general) are so good in what they do: Is that a compulsory subject in primary school there because even the children act so unbelievably natural.

The ethical dilemmas facing soldiers are well presented. Michael first has to demonstrate how a launcher works, knowing it will be used against his own people. Then comes the ultimate decision. The traumas he faces are real and reminded me of actual, similar stories of soldiers returning from Bosnia, Afghanistan or Iraq.

Susanne Bier has come out of the Dogme-movement as one of the better directors. In a world with not that many (talented) female directors she is someone to be cherished.

Surviving a war, but losing the peace.

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 27 May 2005]

Susanne Bier's "Brothers" is a gripping account of the relationship between two brothers. Ms. Bier, a distinguished director, presents in this new venture a psychological study in the mind of one man who has been scarred by events beyond his control. The screen play by Ms. Bier and Andreas Thomas Jensen is one of the most powerful things that have come out from the Danish cinema.

If you haven't seen the film, please stop reading here.

At the beginning of the movie, we are shown Michael who is picking up a prisoner from a jail. It turns out that the released man is none other than Jannik, his own brother. It's clear, at the outset, these two men are as different as oil and vinegar. They quarrel along the way and Jannik gets out and walks into a field to get away from his brother.

Michael, a major in the army, is for all we see, happily married. He is preparing to go to Afghanistan with his unit. His pretty wife, Sarah, and his two young daughters are going to be left on their own, but everything seems to be under control.

When Michael's helicopter is shot from the sky by enemy fire, he is reported as dead, something that affects Sarah deeply. Jannik, the distant brother in law, suddenly gravitates toward Sarah and her children. Sarah, in her grief over her loss, becomes closer to this man.

Michael, on the other hand, hasn't died. We see him as he is taken to an enemy camp where he is seen sharing a cell with another Danish soldier. There's hardly any contact between captors and prisoners. The two men bond, but the other man is seen weakening because of he senses they will be killed. Death arrives, in a devastating sequence that has to be one of the most heart wrenching thing in a film in recent memory.

As the camp is liberated, Michael is repatriated. Sarah knows something has happened to her husband, who never talks about the tragedy at the camp. What's more, one watches in horror as Michael begins to spiral out of control. His guilt finally explodes in a rage, even Jannik, can stop. Michael, in his state, suspects about his own wife's infidelity with his brother. He accuses her of betrayal, something his older daughter, Natalia, seems to be convinced happened between her mother and uncle. Michael, being so tormented, breaks down and begins trashing the house. Jannik comes to help and the brothers have an almost fatal confrontation. At the end we watch as Sarah visits Michael in jail and how he breaks down and tell her the horrible secret he has been hiding all along.

Ulrich Thomsen is the best thing in the film! Mr. Thomsen's performance is one of the most complex we have watched in a while. Mr. Thomsen makes Michael come alive in front of our eyes. Connie Nielsen, an actress that has worked extensively in the American cinema makes also quite an impression with her portrayal of Sarah, the wife that has to deal with the false death of her husband, only to find out he is alive. The other good performance is by Nikolaj Lil Kaas, who plays Jannik, the problem brother. All the supporting players make a contribution to the film.

Ms. Bier shows she can hold her own against much more accomplished directors.

The realism lies not in the war scenes, which work, but in the family ones, which are harrowing.

[secondtake · 8/10 · 20 March 2010]

Brothers (2004)

A remarkable movie in several ways. The first is just that it's well made, with two main layers of story line that are compelling, and some surprising and mostly believable turns. The second is that we (in the U.S.) have a look at the war in Afghanistan from non-American eyes. The echoes are inevitable, and so are the differences, in attitude by the soldiers and in public reaction.

The lead actor Ulrich Thomsen is compelling and versatile, and in some ways makes the movie. His range (which you have to see for yourself or you'll be tipped off) is terrific. His wife, played by better known Connie Nielsen (in her first Danish movie, even though she is Danish herself, and knows seven languages) is perfect, too, though she plays someone who is admittedly "boring" and so has less range. Finally, the lead man's brother, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, is charming and a wild card, making the trio appropriately imbalanced.

I say all this because it's an acting movie, and a movie about relationships and therefore about plot. It's not a war movie, but more about the effects of war. It's recommended for people who have absorbed American movies like The Hurt Locker. But more than that, it's just a well made, emotional, human interest film. There are a couple flaws (including the key part about the helicopter crash, which just doesn't hold up to common sense), but they are small in the larger, gritty realism of the whole.

Fragility and Strength: A Study of Family

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 30 March 2007]

'Brødre'('Brothers') is a remarkable film from Denmark written by Anders Thomas Jensen and Susanne Bier who also directs this microscopic examination of the intricacies of family bonding, the significance of the blood ties between brothers, and the effects of one of the brutal realities of war on every individual member of a family. It is a tense drama made palpable by some phenomenal acting and direction.

Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) and Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) are polar opposites as brothers: Michael is his father's dream, a man who is committed to his family, his beautiful and devoted wife Sarah (Connie Nielsen) with whom he has two daughters, while Jannik is a carefree drifter who drinks too much and refuses to have the stable life his parents expect of him. Michael is off to war in Afghanistan and is in a tragic helicopter accident and reported as dead. When Sarah is informed her world crumbles, as does the mental state of her father-in-law. Jannik hears the news while drunk but slowly awakens to the awful reality that his brother is gone and his sister-in-law and nieces need the support he has never been able to muster.

In Afghanistan we discover that Sarah's inclination that Michael is not really dead is true: Michael has been captured by the Taliban and the experience as a prisoner changes him indelibly, breaking his shell of perfection and he becomes vulnerable and fragile. When Michael returns home to the surprise of everyone the dynamics that have reversed between the family and Jannik and the force that bonds Michael and Jannik is challenged and we are left to examine the fallout.

The script in Danish is supplemented with excellent subtitles in English, but one wonders if the words are even necessary - so fine is the acting of every actor involved. Connie Nielson is a major force in cinema today, a brilliant actor whose spectrum of dynamics appears endless. Both Thomsen and Kaas are equally fine in their difficult roles. This is a superlative work, a psychological drama that strikes chords of familiarity on many levels. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

A brilliant depiction of the impact of war on families

[doctorow · 10/10 · 25 June 2005]

Best picture we've seen in 2005. Why can't Hollywood make movies like this any more? Great cast, great direction, dialogue perfectly written comes through with power even in Danish with English subtitles! Connie Nielsen is in a league with Myrl Streep as an actress. The portrayal of the rough and tumble relationship of the brothers is so real it seems alive. Make sure you see this movie either in the theatres or on DVD. Nielsen is gorgeous but realistically portrays a housewife. The parents are classic Scandinavians, stolid and down to earth. Two little girls are played with zest and great energy. And the brothers, are quite believable as brothers. If you are interested in serious cinema and grown up movies "Brothers" should be on your list.

Damaged goods

[Chris Knipp · 7/10 · 13 June 2005]

"Brothers" is about going away to war and coming back damaged and violent. It's also about how the dynamics change not only when a family member is away at war -- one of the brothers is an officer sent to Afghanistan -- but change again even more drastically when he returns. "Brothers" is harrowing to watch. That's its success. It has to disturb. Otherwise it wouldn't have done its job. But I felt so brutalized by this film that I could barely think.

Michael (Ulrich Thomsen), the officer, has a beautiful wife, Sarah (Connie Nielsen) and two pretty little girls, Natalia (Sarah Juel Werner) and Camilla (Rebecca Løgstrup). His parents live nearby -- his mother Else (Solbjørg Højfeldt) steady, young-looking; his father Henning (Bent Mejding) bossy, a bit sullen, a drinker. Michael's younger brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is handsome in a rough way, drinks, smokes, smiles, likes a laugh. All these people are filled in with a hand-held camera whose vérité edginess links events in Afghanistan with happenings in the family back in Denmark.

The single, jobless Jannik is very much a part of this tight little family but he's a punching bag for the father and Michael because he's always had trouble and is now just out of prison for a bank robbery and assault. He doesn't seem to be looking for a job and both the other men scorn him.

Nevertheless, Jannik's a strong presence at the farewell dinner before Michael, a major in the Danish army, leaves for a second mission to Afghanistan, this time of three months. Jannik's blunt criticisms of the Danes' making war in Afghanistan (which Michael has called "rebuilding a country") are pungent and not unconvincing. Jannik is his own man, and despite his unimpressive life so far, he speaks with confidence and is the more charismatic of the two men. Michael's stolid inwardness isn't very appealing.

Michael seems to have been hoping for an easy tour of duty, but on arrival in Afghanistan he's immediately told he must go and find a young Danish soldier who's just gone missing in enemy territory. That's cut short as quickly when Michael's helicopter is shot down over water and back home he's declared dead. In fact Michael is taken prisoner and something horrible happens. This part of the story, which is cut in briefly between scenes of the family back home, isn't shown in detail; everything happens bang! bang! bang! What we see at the enemy encampment alternates between long periods of silent hopeless waiting and a few moments of intense brutality.

In response to the news that Michael is dead the family regroups as it grieves. The previously careless Jannik finds he deeply misses his brother and reacts by taking on some of Michael's responsibilities, spending time with the two girls, getting a couple of boozy carpenters to help him finish the kitchen Michael left under construction and then continuing to work with them as a team. Michael's absence has made Yannik grow more serious. He still gets drunk -- this is a hard-drinking country -- and runs out of money at the local bar, but this time he calls Sarah at four in the morning and she cheerfully comes and collects him. Jannik and Sarah, who were at loggerheads, are discovering they like each other. Occasionally they kiss, but Jannik resists the temptation to go further. He befriends Natalia and Camilla, who bond with him.

Eventually American troops storm the Islamist encampment in Afghanistan where Michael is held and rescue him. He pretends not to remember what took place there while he was a prisoner but he does. When he is returned to Denmark, he's distant, angry, numb, and inarticulate. He stays bottled up and gradually gets worse. He can't deal with the new dynamics and is sure his wife has betrayed him. This leads to a crisis that as the movie ends may finally be forcing Michael to speak up and get help.

The question is, though, can any help he receives, even if it comes, resolve the residue of Michael's brutal Afghan past now? Michael is complicit in an event for which he might justifiably feel forever guilty. There's no forgiveness in sight as the movie ends, and judging by a shocking declaration from little Natalia, the girls seem to have thrown their allegiance in with Yannik and turned against their father. When he finally loses it and grows violent, it's scary and life-threatening, and you wonder how this family could ever be safe with him again.

The shattering experience "Brothers" provides is hard to assimilate, and that's probably intentional. The persistent difficulty is that the character of Michael is never really sympathetic, even at the beginning, and hence his transformation is less complex for the viewer than it might have been. Yannik is a more successful creation: the way he is written and acted strikes a nice balance between unreliability and warm appeal from the start. But the movie is not notable for its subtlety. The beautiful Connie Nielsen provides a winning, serene presence that doesn't intrude unduly on the events that swirl around her. If it were not for her and Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Jnnik, there would be no one much to sympathize with.

Family Dynamics After War

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 24 July 2010]

The family man Major Michael Lundberg (Ulrich Thomsen) is happily married with his beloved Sarah (Connie Nielsen) and adores his two daughters Natalia (Sarah Juel Werner) and Camilla (Rebecca Løgstrup Soltau). His younger brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) has just left prison on probation for bank robbery and has issues with his father Henning (Bent Mejding). Michael invites Jannik to have dinner at home with their family. When Michael arrives in Afghanistan, his helicopter crashes and he is considered missing in action. However, he is captured and sent to a camp where he meets the radar technician Niels Peter (Paw Henriksen). After a long period imprisoned, Micahel is forced to kill Niels with a bar to survive. Meanwhile Jannick comforts Sarah and the children and he becomes close to Michael's family. When Michael is rescued, he comes back home emotionally detached and paranoid. Further, he is convinced that Sarah and Jannik have slept together during his absence. When the envious Natalia lies during the birthday dinner party of her sister telling that her mother and Jannik had shagged to upset her father, the disturbed Michael triggers an intense paranoia jeopardizing his family.

"Brødre" is a powerful and realistic drama about lives destroyed by war. This film is extremely well-acted, with an adequate cast that gives credibility to the plot led by the gorgeous and excellent Connie Nielsen. The sensitive director Susanne Bier of "Efter Brylluppet" makes another extraordinary movie based on the family dynamics. Jim Sheridan remade this film in 2009, but in a shallow teen "americanization" version. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Brothers"

A Danish Take on the Usual Post- War PTS Syndrome, Updated

[noralee · 6/10 · 31 May 2005]

"Brothers (Brødre)" is a Danish "Coming Home" crossed with "Deer Hunter" and the novels of Tim O'Brien with the added frisson of Cain vs. Abel, as updated to the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.

While I can understand how this is a new experience for Danes, it could have more impact for someone who has never seen a post-Viet Nam War movie. Otherwise it's like a fairly predictable cable TV movie about post traumatic stress syndrome on a channel that allows four letter words, including as has been done in British television films about returning peacekeepers from the Balkans.

The excellent acting rose above the stereotypes to make it very moving anyway, including very natural child actors who were very un-Dakota Fanning-like.

Nikolaj Lie Kaas is particularly charismatic on screen, even more than he was in "Reconstruction," and should now be in the international pantheon of rugged male stars who play "bad boys" really well, emphasized by portraying brunettes in the land of the blonds. So I give director/co-writer Susanne Bier extra credit for not fulfilling the most obvious direction of the plot, but instead letting tension hang in the air, which is more powerful.

Connie Nielsen, using her native language, has warm and charged chemistry with both her co-stars, but is pretty much just the beautiful wife/mother.

Unfortunately, the distributors didn't spring for American English subtitles so you have to interpret Brit slang as if you're watching BBC America. (I did learn in one instance that the F word sounds pretty much the same in Danish as in English but the subtitles didn't match that sound again so I was wondering what other curse words were being replaced with the fundamental English one.) Some times the translation is just plain confusing; for example, the word "assaulted" seems to have a different connotation than something in the Danish dialog, as a plot point gets confused for a subtitle reader. The translation is particularly a problem during a critical scene where the older girl has an outburst, as it's quizzical how scatological her terms were in Danish as opposed to the English choices to understand how incendiary the scene really is.

The Afghans are uniformly shown with the same level of subtlety as North Vietnamese, let alone Nazis, in prisoner-of-war movies. It is ironically interesting that English is now the lingua franca between freedom fighters everywhere.

The cinematography is beautifully color saturated, but is grainy; perhaps it's blown up from video.

This is a heavy one

[bandw · 8/10 · 15 December 2008]

It's not hard to classify this one--it's an intense psychological drama. Whatever mood you were in before you started, you are most likely to be in a somber mood at the end. Perhaps the less you know about the story the more it will involve you. This is one of those movies that makes you ask the questions, "What would I have done in that situation," and "How would I have lived with my decision."

The main thrust of the story is an intimate examination of how a tragedy affects family dynamics. Nature abhors a vacuum. Guilt, jealousy, and doubt drive this to an intense climax.

Parformances are first rate, particularly Connie Nielsen.

Sad, in more ways than one.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 2 July 2007]

A kind of prune Danish about a happily married couple, Michael and Sarah and their two doll-like daughters, and Michael's reckless and irresponsible younger brother Jannik. Michael, a major in the army, is sent to Afghanistan where his helicopter is shot down, and he's thrown into a prison cell with a Danish comrade. Beaten, and with a gun at his head, Michael is forced to batter to death his cell mate and friend.

Meanwhile, back home, having been informed mistakenly that Michael was dead, Sarah and Jannik come to respect one another and even to be attracted to one another, although nothing goes beyond a tentative but meaningful kiss.

Michael is rescued and returned to his home. But, unable to face his own guilt, he claims never to have seen any other prisoners, and he tells his family nothing about his part in the murder, which, although bloodless, is an especially brutal scene. He's not the guy who left home. He partly blames his family for the killing because it was of them that he was thinking when he bashed his friend's head in. He's irritable, suspicious of Jannik and Sarah, bullies the two kids, strikes his wife, and finally is jailed for smashing his own home. Sarah visits him and orders him to tell of his experiences or she will leave him for good. He tells her, and presumably Michael recovers and the family remains intact. I say "presumably" because this isn't a simple movie with simple answers to questions with labyrinthine implications. The film doesn't endorse the cliché of "getting it off your chest" and putting it behind you. It's not that dumb.

That, basically, is the story. It's a rather long movie considering that it isn't very dense with incident. I kept waiting for boredom to set in but it didn't happen. For one thing, Connie Nielson as Sarah is very attractive. For another, the performances all around were outstanding. Michael, in particular, embodies the sort of compulsive military type who believes that everything should be in order, that individuals should take responsibility for what they do, and that talking solves nothing. John Wayne would have approved. Then, too, I was curious to see just how far this post-traumatic stress would drive Michael. Would he really kill his family? We know he's capable of the most tempestuous emotions, despite his outer reserve, because we have seen him scream with horror when a cocked pistol is pressed against his forehead.

Finally, it gradually came to me that this is a story about people who fought terrorism and are not Americans, although the invasion of Afghanistan and the toppling of the Taliban was a response to the attacks of 9/11. In many Europen cities on September 12th, 2001, major newspapers ran headlines like, "Today We Are All Americans." And some of those nations went to war with us and some of their soldiers died doing it. It has been not quite six years since those horrible initial events. And who would march beside us today? Where are OUR brothers now? What happened? It's a sobering and enlightening movie.

brodre and brothers

[larryssa-68-866888 · 9/10 · 20 January 2013]

We all know that American cinema can't help itself to do remake of foreign films... That's why i saw Brothers before this original danish movie. When in this one all appears to be shot in steady cam, the American way tries to put some melodramatic trigger.

This version is about feelings, about situation and personal change: life make us evolve like every decision we take and nothing is good or bad, there is a lot of in between. The chose to accumulate the short shootings, practically no music or just a few notes on one instrument,are trying to bring us along this day to day story really well interpreted. The characters in their flaws or every day basis are believable, there is not so much emphasis like in the good but too much American film. It's in their nature to modify, adjust the deepness of the movie and after seeing this 2004 version, we actually miss something: this authenticity.

In both versions, dialogs, ellipses are exactly the same, but characters turned out to be different. We actually have to exact opposite films and this is a real challenge to see both.

A Melodrama With Pretensions

[Cardinalnem · 6/10 · 22 May 2005]

This melodramatic film does have some fine acting from the principal players, skillful cross-cutting and certain other spare externals which place it in the fashionable Dogme school of cinema, but at the same time it suffers from an excessive lifting of plot and characters from other and finer films. The central plot strand, for instance, one of two brothers, the good one the apple of his father's eye and the bad one the source of the cartoonish father's consistent irritation, is by and large an inferior retelling of that old James Dean flick, "East of Eden." In fact, it's so imitative of this last, it even has the bad brother becoming a candidate for the affections of the woman initially devoted to his good sibling. Secondly, the Afghan war plot strand, with its focus on the surprising and horrific actions war may unleash in the otherwise most pacific of men, though actually shocking, is nevertheless too heavily indebted to and not as good as the memorable Vietnam War sequences of "The Deer Hunter." These Afghan scenes, by the way, do have the courage to show Taliban members as brutal fascists, a daring that "sensitive" Hollywood has yet to engage in.

But the real poverty of this film is revealed not just in its too heavily imitative melodrama, but in its status as a melodrama with philosophical pretensions. It aspires to comment on the human condition, but its vision is merely therapeutic and sadly trite. Thus we have not only repetitive visual sequences of reeds blowing in the wind, but even a stale, repeated jingle about there being no good nor bad, nor right nor wrong, "save Love which never dies." This last I put in quotation marks, since it's not only the philosophy of the film but embarrassingly also the quoted credo of the absurd feminist Katisha from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado." In seeking to rise above melodrama to the transcendent, this film becomes one more fallen soufflé.

Terrific but underrated masterpiece

[searchanddestroy-1 · 4 April 2023]

I don't remember if I saw the remake starring Jack Gyllenhaal; maybe but not sure. Anyway this Danish movie is far from the Hollywood standards, or maybe some indie material. This is a true gripping, taut, poignant story where characters are so convincing, performances outstanding and where the audiences can't stay cold, indifferent. Scandinavian movie industry, and also TV one, is really worth searching. There are talents galore over there. I can't even imagine that people despise such films. Of course it is not action packed, but please, try to be intelligent and focus on such moving stories, so close to real life.

Poor Acting; Plot line Disappoints Despite Potential

[tjsprik · 5/10 · 25 January 2010]

One of my top 5 favorite movies is Suzanne Bier's "After the Wedding." This movie is as close to perfection as a film can be. So I was anxious to see another one of her productions and had to actually purchase a copy of Brothers in order to view it. With such rave reviews, I thought it would be worth it (fortunately paid only $7 on amazon).

Unfortunately this movie a disappointment. The plot line holds so much potential, but for some reason it just doesn't work. Connie Nielsen, whom I loved in Gladiator, doesn't give us much of a performance here, and her hair is looks unwashed in a lot of scenes, I assume that's due to the highlights she had at the time.

The actor who portrays Michael did a superb job. He is put in a terrible position while in captivity and we feel his anguish as the film progresses after that incident.

The brother who becomes a potential love interest is so unappealing as to make her interest in him hard to understand. He's unattractive and smokes incessantly, and I hate to be shallow but honestly, how could anyone be attracted to someone who smelled like smoke all the time?! I did like the final scene and was satisfied with the ending. But everything else was so-so. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

The various crying scenes were not well-done at all, and in a movie which involves so much gut-wrenching emotion, it was vital the actors get those scenes right. But they failed miserably.

Rent it if you want to see it, but don't buy it. I give the story an 8, but the acting a 3.

Great movie - extreme emotions in real people

[cr-25 · 10/10 · 25 August 2004]

A man and his family suffer when he cannot talk about the extreme decisions he has had to make - and live with. Anyone who has friends or relatives that have been in a warzone or war-like conditions will recognize the strong emotions that sometimes take control of people when they come back into their daily realities. It portrays a man who seems to have lost control and brings home a lot of repressed anger, which almost costs him his family. Great movie with a great story and great acting portraying real ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Part of this movies strong emotional impact comes from the use of hand-held camera and lots of wonderful close-ups. Near-life, near-reality, near-death

Fascinating Well Played and Well Cut Drama

[ksj-2 · 9/10 · 19 August 2004]

The movie is filmed mostly with hand held camera, and the technical quality is not the best. I am normally not a fan of these so called "Dogme" movies, but it gives the opportunity to tell a story with a small budget and without having to waste time on special effects and so on. And what a movie. The actors play so intense and fascinatingly well, that I often sat on the edge of the seat, had "goose bumps"(gaasehud), wept like whipped(graed som pisket). The cutting is also very special and interesting. For instance a scene, where representatives of the military arrives to tell Sarah, that her husband is missing, it is cut right before they tell her the bad news. It gives a good effect. I would also like to welcome Connie Nielsen to the staff of fantastic Danish actors(her first danish movie) and will look forward to possibly/eventually watch/experience her great magic i a Danish movie again. I must write her a fan letter(my first).

PTSD husband + lonely wife.

[afterdarkpak · 7/10 · 18 October 2020]

The performance is really good for danish actors. quality n overall is good. There are some Minor flaws in movies which kinda ruined the movie in middle and in the end. also movie has some kinda happy or weird or unfinished ending .

military husband and wife , and they have 2 kids husband went to Afghanistan and got ambushed n declared KIA. and broken heart wife become lonely and found comfort in husband's dashing looking brother. Eventually the husband is alive n captured.

---------------------spoiler-------------------

the connection between wife n brother in law was kinda drag or fake. i mean both have no feelings for each other, except brother helping her house n playing with kids which SHE likes it and then she goes for kiss?... anyhow one thing is good in the movie that they didnt have sex or fall in love or something.

the second flaw when 9 or 10 yrs old daughter yell at father that mommy is banging uncle? .. like really? ... bad idea of this part here.

last flaw, when husband is arrested , and next morning wife sitting at stairs looking messed up home, and brother in law came and they start laughing each other? its like they start having connection.

A shattering experience

[groggo · 10/10 · 12 August 2007]

Susanne Bier has made a film that is both superb and complex: it explores profound love and disaffection, the transference of senses across a continent, sibling rivalry, severe guilt, familial dysfunction, and, most of all for me, the insanity of war and how it filters down to a single microcosm -- the family -- and destroys it.

That Bier manages to do all of this in less than two hours is a major achievement. You would be hard-pressed to find greater acting anywhere in a single film. Ulrich Thomsen as Michael, the ill-fated Danish soldier and father, is devastating in an acting tour-de-force as a man who comes unwound after a soul-destroying experience as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan. Nikolai Lie Kaas plays his presumably irresponsible brother Jannik -- his opposite -- with a rough tenderness and nuance that's very difficult to see these days. His facial expressions when he hears about his beloved brother's fate are remarkable examples of flat-out great acting.

I was stunned to find that this was Connie Nielsen's first film in her native Denmark. She's apparently been working in Hollywood. As the middle-class loving wife of Michael, she is the very picture of a tormented but warm and loving mother caught in a crossfire of emotions over the assumed loss of her husband and her attraction to the flawed Jannik. Her performance requires a high-wire act of emotions, but she manages to understate her work, a very difficult thing to do in such a demanding role. She's a beautiful woman, but director Susanne Bier manages to shift the focus from her beauty and concentrate on her plight as a conflicted wife and mother. That's not easy to do.

There are many themes at work in Brothers, but the one that really caught me was the deceptively simple way that Bier shows us the shattering reality of war and militarism in general. Behind all the medals and the bravado (I'm a former soldier who's familiar with this stuff), human beings and human relationships are very often profoundly, and irreversibly, affected. Yet we rarely hear about the intimate details of these very real tragedies.

There's a lot of hand-held camera work in Brothers, and it seems to flirt with a number of Dogme 95 principles. It's very difficult to make a Dogme 95 film with all l0 principles intact, it seems to me. Even Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, the prime shakers behind the movement, have drifted away from the 'purity' of Dogme. Despite its severe restrictions, I'm still a basic fan of the movement. After being saturated with so much CGI, it was inevitable that the dialectic was set in motion and Dogme 95 was unleashed in a furious proclamation by von Trier and company. There just HAD to be a severe reaction against the CGI fanatics who INSIST on destroying artistic cinematic expression.

Susanne Bier has done a masterful job with Brothers. I was just swept away by the sheer power of this film.

The roles of two brothers change in gritty film

[rosscinema · 6/10 · 5 June 2005]

The main premise of this story is eerily reminiscent of other films such as "The Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home" but that's where the similarity ends because this is a script that definitely has it's own heart and priorities. Story takes place in Denmark where we see Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) who's a Major in the military but before he ships off to Afghanistan he picks up his brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) who has just been released from prison after committing assault on a woman. Michael has always been the levelheaded one of the two and has succeeded in pretty much everything in life but Jannik is the opposite and is considered the black sheep of the family.

*****SPOILER ALERT***** Michael's wife Sarah (Connie Nielsen) has never really liked Jannik before but she and her two daughters starts to change their minds when he starts to help out around the house after Michael ships out for duty. Meanwhile, a helicopter in Afghanistan is shot down and Michael is taken prisoner by Afghan rebels and it doesn't take long before Sarah and the family are informed that he has been killed. While a prisoner Michael is forced to kill another soldier with a steel pipe in order to stay alive but after he is found by friendly forces he doesn't mention the terrible act that he performed. Michael returns home but he's definitely a changed man and haunted by his behavior in the prison camp and his relationship with Sarah and their daughters starts to suffer. He starts accusing her of sleeping with Jannik but the final blow comes when their oldest daughter proclaims that she doesn't like her father and likes Jannik instead!

Written and directed by Susanne Bier this film trudges on material that's already a bit familiar but her script does possess it's own air of freshness to the point where the viewer isn't sure where it's conclusion will end up. The ending is ambiguous and it should be because anything that would even remotely resemble something neat and tidy would compromise Bier's effort and (in effect) turn this into another "one of those" films. This does possess three solid performances that each stand on it's own and it's good to see Nielsen in a more complex role. After serving as eye candy and as the love interest in Hollywood fare she's finally given a meatier role to perform in and let's hope it leads to other films such as this because she's a darn good actress. Thomsen is a sold actor (and terrific here!) but this film offers Kaas the opportunity for a breakout performance and with his brooding demeanor and rugged good looks he delivers the goods. While this film probably won't pop up on too many top ten lists it's still a pretty good effort that stays true to it's heart and gives three very good actors a chance to show their talent.

Learning to forgive oneself is not easy to do. A hard medicine of a film, thought-provoking and 'soberingly' touching.

[ruby_fff · 8/10 · 1 April 2006]

The Danish film "Brothers" 2004 aka Brodre, w-d by Susanne Bier, is NFE (may not be for everyone). It's about love, a showdown of emotions (the opening music and repeated strains remind me of Sergio Leone's spaghetti western sounding tone). The fact that Michael ('Tour De Force' performance from Ulrich Thomsen of "The Celebration" 1998 aka Festen) keeping his traumatic experience within himself, unable to share with anyone, even his dear wife, is a sobering thought from the post-war effects. He's full of paranoia and is suspicious of everyone around him. It's so hard on him, on family members/children who do not understand what he had gone through that affected his 'warped' emotions and predicament. We cannot weather trauma alone.

As audience, we were privy to what happened to Michael as a prisoner of war - we saw what he had to experience - the circumstance and 'no-choice' decision at the time. His determined will focused on 'must stay alive to see his family and loving wife again' kept him hanging on amidst fear and uncertainty under the atrocities/ravage of war. Learning to forgive oneself - to not blame yourself - is not easy to do. What happen happened under circumstances out of your control and yes, it's easier said than done to say that you mustn't bear the burden or guilt feeling within you. We need the love and support of family/people around us - to be able to trust them that they would listen and understand.

Connie Nielsen as Michael's wife Sarah and Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Michael's younger brother, Jannik, provided an insightful portrait of the triangle of relationships that thrived and yet to survive. In the opening of the film, Bier has on screen along with intriguing graphic imagery and an eye close-up: "I will always love you. That is the only truth that remains. Life is neither right nor wrong, good or bad. But I love you. That's all I know." Towards the end, the graphic imagery and the eye repeated: "Life is neither right nor wrong, good or bad. But I love you. That's all I know."

I caught on Sundance Channel, Dutch documentary filmmaker Heddy Honigmann's "Crazy" 2000, provides 'unpresuming' accounts of how some of the once Dutch soldiers or former workers of UN missions, are dealing with post-war effects by listening or tuning to music as relief. She also did "Good Husband, Dear Son" 2001, a documentary about the surviving women reminiscing their loss of husbands and sons during the 1992 Yugoslav civil war. It's heart-breaking films worth watching.

From the PBS special of Dr. Wayne Dyer's Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling, I heard about Immaculée Ilibagiza's book (collaborated with writer-journalist Steve Erwin) "Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" - sounds like the act of forgiveness can be easier to practice by learning from her autobiographical account. Couldn't wait to absorb from her shared spirituality.

Strong film with a few bloopers

[bogrunberger · 7/10 · 21 October 2004]

Having seen this movie I must say that it's good! It has a good plot, a few but very talented actors and without doubt Susanne Bier is also a talented director.

I won't bother you with details about the movie since every body else do that, but I'd like to point at a few points where the movie has some grave errors: The brother who is in the Danish army comes from Jydske Dragon Regiment, a regiment placed in the center of Jutland and which is an army regiment. Nevertheless does the movie take place on Zealand which is a completely different part of Denmark and most of them talk with a dialect. Furthermore the regiments base is an airfield!??? It just bothers me that Susanne Bier hasn't made the effort to learn at least a little bit about the army before she made her film. It's such a great film but if you know a bit about the army you'll constantly be nagged about some flaws in her picture of the army. Another thing is that the soldiers doesn't act as real soldiers: Nothing said about the scenes that takes place in Afghanistan, nothing wrong here as far as I can see. It's just that soldiers tend to act a bit more masculine and hide emotions, but not the soldiers in "Brødre". In this film they all hug and talk to each other like normal people would do. Again: If you know a bit about the environment you'll be bothered with this, but it's probably not something other people will notice.

But again, a great film other than that. 8/10

Not easy to watch, but I loved it

[hakapes · 10/10 · 3 December 2005]

This is one of the movies I liked the most this year - others wrote a lot about acting etc., let me tell you about my reactions.

I enjoyed the movie from the very first to the very last moment, it let me feel. Despite the heavy questions there's no solution in the end, and I still felt I take something with me. I understood and lived through something important. There's no 'this is right' and 'this is bad' in the movie, director Susanne Bier presents situations and then shows how each player of the drama tries to cope with it - just like in life.

To my surprise, although I didn't know these Danish actors, they play very very well. I don't remember Connie Nielsen (Sarah) from Gladiator as many do, but her performance here is very impressive. The two brothers, Ulrich Thomsen (Michael) and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Jannik), show a sensitive and fragile relationship between the two brothers. The whole movie pops out just like real life, and the dogma style caught me on, I felt like watching a real home movie, recorded from life.

I was touched by the dialogs, the acting, the music, the atmosphere... I have a friend who's husband has been recently returned from war. She told she feels that he must have gone through a lot of things she has no idea of. Now I can imagine what she meant. Therefore I especially liked the moments, when I got a couple of ten seconds to breathe, to digest watching the landscapes; to see people sigh on the screen and sigh with them.

This was not an easy movie to watch, but I wish, I could watch more of these, and encouraged me to check out more films played by Nielsen or directed by Bier. 10/10

Realistic drama about a homecoming (SPOILER)

[susie_hermansen · 7/10 · 18 August 2004]

A realistic film about the consequences of being a professional soldier sent to Afghanistan to help rebuilding the country. This portrait of a dysfunctional family is done with drama and nerve. Both in what is said and done, but also through what is left out.

Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolai Lie Kaas play their roles to perfection, and Connie Nielsen's first danish-spoken role suites her well.

WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

This film about the brothers Jannik and Michael is indeed very realistic. Jannik (Kaas) is the younger brother who can't keep out of trouble and Michael (Thomsen) is the older, responsible one. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan and presumed dead, his brother unexpectedly takes the responsibility no-one thought he could.

Things go horribly wrong, when Michael returns home to find his role not so solid and when he suspects his wife (Nielsen) to be having an affair, he goes totally amok.

Did I miss anything at all? Well,only a better sound quality on the dialog.

Connie Nielsen drags it down

[bigy · 3/10 · 15 February 2005]

No spoilers herein - the movie is already spoilt.

Nice premise, however, and some excellent Danish actors. Also, we know from previous movies that the director is very talented.

But the semi-Danish female lead, Connie Nielsen, is obviously miscast.

Yes, she may be a big name in Hollywood. But she only masters one facial expression - and so uses it throughout the entire movie. They could have used a mannequin doll and no one would have noticed the difference! For me this ruined the entire movie. How very annoying, I almost wanted to slap her face - just to provoke some genuine expression.

This is supposed to be a serious drama - not a Loreal commercial!

Brother there art thou?

[stensson · 8/10 · 26 March 2005]

Now Danish movies are beginning to really hurt and Susanne Biel is a good runner-up to Lars von Trier. This is about the Danish mayor who is believed to have fallen in Afghanistan. It's about his daughters, his wife and most of all his brother, the no-good who's temporarily (?) out of prison and has too (?) good contact with the mayor's wife.

The acting is good and the conflicts heavy. But they aren't that heavy that you feel alienated. Why can you watch action movies there people are killed all the time and don't mind it? Because it has nothing to do with your life. This movie has, although the situations are extreme, but in a completely other way.

Well worth seeing.