BROTHERS
Denmark, 2004, 117 minutes, Colour.
Connie Neilsen, Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas.
Directed by Susanne Bier.
Brothers is quite topical, not only in the relationship between an serious older brother and his irresponsible younger brother, but in its episode with a peace-keeping Danish presence in Afghanistan.
Danish films are often grim in their outlook. So, is this one. What starts out as a love-clash relationship and a family reunion turns into an unanticipated drama. The older brother goes to Afghanistan and his helicopter is shot down and he is reported dead. In her grief and care for her children, his wife begins to depend on the younger brother who becomes more genial. The older brother is captured and in the face of death commits an act which damages him morally and psychologically and has dire repercussions when he returns home.
The film raises a number of moral dilemmas, enough to make the audience thoughtful throughout the film while responding emotionally to the characters and their harsh and sad experiences.
1.The impact of this film? For Danish audiences? World audiences? Its tone, realism? Grim?
2.Ordinary life in Denmark, towns, suburbs, homes? Bars? Prison? Similar lifestyle all over Europe? The West? The musical score?
3.The contrast with Afghanistan, the initial song? The desert, arid, mountains, beauty? The skies?
4.The title, audience expectations, love and hate, rivalry, good and bad, change?
5.The picture of Michael: a military man, a strong man, a sense of mission, picking up the prisoner, it turning out to be his brother? The relationship between them? The brother and his attack on the woman, getting out? The reconciliation? The brothers’ parents? Sarah, the children? An atmosphere of joy at home?
6.Jannik, his character, the past, his look, the woman, getting out, the car, his relationship with his parents, with Anne? With his brother?
7.Michael going to Afghanistan, the farewells, his leaving his children, the officer, his arrival? Niels, the mission, the helicopter, the detail of work in Afghanistan, the crash? The dead? His not dying, his being taken? In the cell, Niels, the ordeal? The detail of the ordeal? The time passing, memories of Sarah? Niels’ story, the order, taunting him, reassuring him? The killing, the rescue?
8.Michael suddenly back, his conscience, moods? His suspicions of Jannik, of Sarah, the children? The officers? Whether to confess or not? Becoming more erratic, Sarah and her fear? Suspicions? The meal, his parents? His confrontation with Jannik, his destruction of the house, his arrest?
9.Jannik, his attraction towards Sarah, helping, playing with the children, the kiss, his girlfriend? The fight, the change?
10.Sarah and the girls, an ordinary woman, pleasant, love for her husband, hearing of his death, her grief, trying to cope? Jannik’s presence, the change in him, his being more tender, the kiss, her loneliness? The news? Michael’s return, her puzzle, her trying to love him, her fears, the danger?
11.The reverse in the brothers, Jannik becoming more humane? Michael becoming more troubled and violent?
12.The visit to the prison, his beginning to confess, the possibility of healing?
13.The reality of war, behaviour in war, conscience, forgiving oneself, being forgiven, reconciliation?
