Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

morrison-dylan-fan Doing a big summer clean-up I decided to get rid of a huge pile of old issues of UK film mag Empire. Making notes of titles that sounded interesting in the soon to be gone issues,I noticed this film being praised for being different to other "urban" Drama's. Caught by surprised, I was happy to see it was about to be shown on the BBC,which led to me meeting the devilish brothers. View on the film:Depressingly looking like it could have been filmed this year, writer/director Sally El Hosaini & cinematographer David Raedeker craft an intense, on the street reporting atmosphere, following each gang member stomping on their turf of rotting flats and side streets where huddled yoofs can pull out a knife to kill you in an instance. Filmed on location in Hackney, London, Hosaini stylishly uses hand-held cameras to shove the viewer by the walls of the cramped family home, where Rash and Mo's emotions boil over.Bringing a feeling of brotherly love out of their troubled surroundings,James Floyd and Fady Elsayed give electrifying performances as Mo and Rash,with each of them pushing and pulling the other ones frustrations over the life of grime they are stuck in, whilst Saïd Taghmaoui nicely hits a note of calm as friend Sayyid. While the look of the movie and the performances successfully aim for something new in the "urban" Drama genre,the screenplay by Hosaini spends the first half playing the usual notes of the brothers having to survive rubbing shoulders with the various thugs on the streets. Closing in on things the brothers don't tell each other, Hosaini keeps the traditional urban flavour burning, whilst going for a more touchingly low-key examination of a brother being such a devil.

Abbie Rawlings My brother the Devil is the first independent film by British director Sally El Hosani and it explores the gritty reality of gang life and its abhorrent approaches on the LGBT community. My brother the devil follows close blood brothers Mo (Fady Elsayed) and Rasch (James Floyd) and how their differences slowly drive them apart. What is interesting with this drama is that Sally El Hosani was born in Hackney - where this controversial drama is set and her half Egyptian heritage reflects that of the two protagonists.The represented themes that could be deemed most shocking to the audience in this drama are the Muslim and gang approaches to the LGBT community. When Rasch steps down from his position in a local gang in hope of a less chaotic and turbulent lifestyle, he slowly realises his sexuality with fellow ex-gang member Sayyid (Saïd Taghmaoui). When his brother Mo discovers this he is full of disgust and shame and rejects Rasch's relation to him, screaming 'Wish you were never my brother!'. The audience feels forced to watch in contempt as Mo adopt Rasch's previous role in a gang as he begins to run a drug dealing firm, almost in a desperate attempt to re-scramble the sense of masculinity within his family that he feels he lost with Rasch's sexuality. The shocking revelation that follows is that Mo would rather admit to his brother being a terrorist than homosexual, which speaks volumes in how this drama represents the views of LGBT's in gang culture and Islam.My brother the devil is shockingly poignant and an impressive first entry by documentary director Sally El Hosani which provides a hard hitting narrative on sensitive themes. It depicts how familial love can be broken down by a clash of conservative views and modern reality.

Errington_92 My Brother The Devil can be described as an formulaic gritty, realistic crime drama seen in a multitude of films like Boyz In Da Hood, Kidulthood and La Haine to name a few. Yet it does offer a shocking twist and tense atmosphere underlining the characters' realities which were dramatically absorbing.Until My Brother The Devil revealed its twist, it was a formulaic narrative. However there was no faulting its atmospheric direction. My Brother The Devil used still images of gang-life in its opening scene whilst firmly establishing differences between Rashid and Mo, Brothers and main protagonists. Visuals were primarily used as they are an emotive concept, actions speak louder than words. My Brother The Devil did well to establish atmosphere by placing characters (and consequently audiences) in violent situations. The actors' direction in specific scenes was fundamental towards this, not relying on dialogue only. The scenes are left to settle through each actors' instincts forcing audiences to absorb tension. Yet it is the shocking twist within My Brother The Devil whilst it felt questionable at first did fit into Rashid's and Mo's characterisation regarding gang-life's requirement of fierce masculinity. In this regard it was a bold move which intensified My Brother The Devil's atmosphere.Despite the intriguing twist, My Brother The Devil's narrative style did feel cliché. As previously stated the narrative was formulaic to an extent where I was predicted what would follow. Yet the acting in specific scenes are able to absorb audiences into their world. Wherever it was Rashid or Mo having to square up to fierce opposition or experiencing violent situations, the actors involved never overly convey their situation. Thanks to this the actors created a realism shocking audiences into realising the harrowing environment these characters were part of. This directness of My Brother The Devil's realism makes it slightly superior over its clichéd flaws to make it an dramatically absorbing feature.

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningRashid (James Floyd) is caught up with street gangs in inner city London, and runs in to a feud with another rival gang when his younger brother Mo (Fady Elsayed) is robbed by them while running an errand for Rashid's crew. But when his best friend is killed in a retaliation attack instigated by Rashid, he is forced to try and come to terms with his life and turn it around, while facing up to his own inner demons. Meanwhile, young Mo is forced to face some harsh rites of passage choices of his own.Just when it seemed like it had been a while, Sally El Hosani comes along with a new gritty British urban drama to shake the genre back up a bit. Little seen but critically hailed, it's lesser budget not holding it back at all, My Brother the Devil is an undeniably impressive but overlong and maybe even slightly over rated offering that is maybe guilty of over ambition in it's scope.Basing it's story at the centre of a bustling immigrant community in the sprawling metropolis of London, the film lifts the rafters on what has probably become a pretty typical, archetypal landscape setting for many parts of the capital, or even the country as a whole. It opens a rough, unpredictable world with danger at every corner and the price of life disturbingly cheap. In this it manages what many other films of it's type have already done, and in an above average way, but it loses it's way in a sea of complex, challenging sub plots that seem to be aiming for higher gasp factor as it goes on. Somehow, the central narrative loses it's structure a bit, while the performances and writing remain spot on. Still, if all the cogs in the engine aren't working, someone'll notice.This is an undeniably ambitious, well acted, daring, effectively shot, depressingly realistic and smartly written piece that doesn't deserve to have all those qualities ignored, but maybe got a little too above it's station and fell down from a spellbinding height. ***