Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Manthast Absolutely amazing

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Sindre Kaspersen Danish screenwriter and director Susanne Bier's eight feature film which she co-wrote with Danish screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen, is inspired by Homer's poem "The Odyssey". It was shot on location in Denmark and Spain and is a Denmark-Norway-Sweden-UK co-production which was produced by producers Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Sisse Graum Jørgensen. It tells the story about a man named Michael Lundberg who lives in a lucrative home in with his lovely wife Sarah and their two daughters. Michael is like the recipe of success and as opposed to his rebellious brother Jannik, the pride of the family, but his life takes a new course when he is sent on a mission to Afghanistan. Briefly after his departure, Sarah receives a call and is told that her husband is missing in action. Alone with her two children Sarah seeks comfort in Jannik who is more than willing to take on Michael's role. Early on Susanne Bier divides the film into two parallel stories which converges into a dynamic confrontation. The substance in her incarnated character drama is the sporadic relationship between Michael and Jannik who are of the same blood, but of different caliber. One is the apple of the family's eye and gets all the love while the other is the black sheep who has been reminded so often about his shortcomings that he no longer sees any reason in trying to meet the expectations of his family. Both of these characters personalities alters significantly during the course of the film, but the gravity in this in-depth study of character lies in Michael's transformation from happy family man to demoralized war victim.Family relations is a characteristic theme in the films of Susanne Bier and the frequent close-ups which recurs in several of her films is also present here. In "Brødre", Susanne Bier examines family situations with acute observations which illuminates interpersonal truths. Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen "The Inheritance" (2003), Danish actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas "The Idiots" (1998) and Danish actress Connie Nielsen "Gladiator" (2000) are the central characters in this compassionate drama triangle and their commendable acting performances are one of the main reasons for this films individuality. It lives on it's own terms, many questions are left for the viewers to answer and the natural progression of the characters is given a higher priority than satisfying conclusions. Susanne Bier creates archetypal human figures, tells genuine stories and invites the viewers into her human insight with her distinct and engaging directing.

Robert J. Maxwell 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.

ThurstonHunger This film features brutal moments, thus not escapist fare nor fodder for my wife as an example. I think she also would have had trouble with the shaky handicam footage. Still despite the fact that this had my stomach twisted up in knots, this film was a compelling watch, and deeply cathartic in some ways.One could see it as emotional response to the war(s) of the day, taking the global and shooting it like an RPG into the local. The film reaches a point-of-no-return, and then soldiers on past that. The audience, like the lead portrayed by Ulrich Thomsen, however may have some trouble after that point. Some shrapnel sticks in the soul...If one reduces war "to kill or be killed", well perhaps that is too cut and dried. Certainly too cut. And in such a reduction, much is lost. The thought of a soldier being ordered to kill, it can never be an easy one. And in this film, that order is charged with deeply unsettling overtones.Kudos to Susanna Bier, interesting to see a woman director who captures the male psyche so well in my estimation. The two male leads are well fleshed out, levels of sibling love and yet sibling dislike are strikingly meshed together. In briefly reading up on some of her films, it seems the notion of a taboo romance is something she is drawn to like a moth unto flame.As others point out, the brothers in this film mirror each other in ways, reflections of atonement. Never an easy action to capture on film, sure there can be physical gestures...but the power of atonement takes place on a very different sphere, if at all.This film is almost like the 7 Up series of documentaries for me, in that when the curtain falls, I was curious, *painfully* curious, where things will be after a period of time.I'm less curious about the lighting of the film, seemed like a glowing oval was superimposed on much of the footage. Didn't pay enough attention to see if it only came at certain moments. It felt intentional, but consciously it did not cohere for me.One last comment, I thought the music was sublime ( a little reminiscent of the soundtrack to "Deadwood" but with some sort of nyckleharp and Afghani aromas as well...) As the film itself screams its emotions so strongly at times, the understated sonic themes were a welcome counterbalance.7.5/10 Thurston Hunger

hupfons5 Intense & at times disturbing portrayal of 2 brothers and their troubled personal & family lives.The changes that these 2 brothers undergo show how circumstances can drastically change people's lives in unforeseeable ways.(SPOILER) One of the only films to show so graphically how the traumas of war(in this case a grizzly incident that happens to one of the brothers as a prisoner of war) can transform someone into a deeply disturbed maniac.Good story. Excellent acting by Ulrich Thomsen, Nicolaj Lie Hass, and Connie Nielsen.