Brother John

First of all Vincent Canby was wrong. Poitier's character John Kane is not an angel. He is very much a living breathing earthly being capable of error as evidenced by a scene where he thoughtlessly lets slip a bit of information he should not have mentioned. Do I know exactly who or what John Kane was meant to be taken for by Ernest Kinoy the screenwriter? Definitely not. Does that at all detract from the enjoyment of this film. Absolutely not. Think of Mark Twain's The Mysterous Stranger or the sci-fi film classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Both of these works are scathing indictments of the pettiness and baseness of human kind. If you have any knowledge of how wisdom is communicated in the eastern religions such as Budhism you will be mesmerized by the conversation that takes place in the jail cell between the world weary Kane and Dr. Thomas. It is significant that it is a physician who more accurately than any other character understands what Kane is up to. Who else but a physician is actually trained to see man as he really is, with all pretenses and garments removed? Dr.Thomas has in his own way been performing the same task as Kane all his life making dispassionate clinical observations. The fact that none of the social issues and conflicts portrayed in the film are fleshed out or resolved in any satisfying way is not a problem for this film. They are all just symptoms of the underlying disease. In my opinion Kinoy is saying the disease itself is simply the nature of man. Perhaps the beating and humiliation of an officer of the law (even a blatantly racist and evil one)- by an African American that takes place in this film was simply too radical in 1971 for it to be aggressively promoted or to be supported by critics. Don't let this film's obscurity keep you from superb performances by Mr Poitier and Will Geer.

I first saw this movie when it was released in the UK and although similar politically to most of his movies of that time and with the usual script aimed at making Sidney Poitier appear to be the super human that we all know he is.It was still in my opinion one of his more meaningful but less celebrated rolls with little or no publicity when it was released in the UK.Having said that,when you think of the standard of performance Mr Poitier gives in the movie and the talent the casting agent managed to muster(all fine journeymen actors)as a supporting cast one wonders why I feel I am the only person in the UK who saw this movie.The other major plus is the soundtrack(I would love to have a copy)it is so good.

In a Southern town, kindly old Doc Thomas is giving an elderly woman what appears at first to be a routine examination. But then he must tell her, in his caring way, that she is too far gone and while they can try, she needs to prepare for the worst.

The woman's brother John cannot be found. And yet somehow he has always managed to show up when someone he cared about died. This time is no exception; while the family wonders how to contact him, John is already in his sister's hospital room.

After the funeral, John stays around for a while, which is unusual for him. He entertains a group of school kids by telling about his adventures in Africa and showing them the culture of the people he met. The kids' teacher seems to be an old girlfriend, and the possibility exists of the romance rekindling.

Doc Thomas should probably give up his practice, and the townspeople know this. He may not be senile yet, but he is showing a decline.

Meanwhile, the union at an area factory appears ready to strike. The black workers aren't treated well, and some of the cops in town are racist. There may be trouble. Will John's presence help or hurt the situation?

Sidney Poitier gives his usual masterful performance. And Will Geer does an outstanding job overall, even holding his own with the great Poitier in a powerful scene near the end.

We never really learn what John does or why he seems to have supernatural abilities. All we know is that he is very intelligent and has lived many places and done many things.

There are plenty of other good performances and good writing.

It's worth seeing.

I only saw the movie once, back when it came out, but it left an impression on me. John is an enigma, one we discover more puzzling things about but never anything that is a solid answer. Like Will Geer's character, we can guess things about John and the reasons for his return, but we will never know the answers.... At least not until John chooses to act.

By the way, the film makes an interesting mirror to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Consider that film as if it were an X-Files episode....

No doubt about it this may be the strangest role Sidney Poitier ever took on. But at the same time he did a haunting performance as Brother John whose arrival in town for his sister's funeral is cause for speculation in the southern town he hails from.

Will Geer the town doctor upon hearing Poitier is in town says that Poitier has never returned but for family members when they die, both parents and now his sister. He keeps in no touch, but always knows.

He muses out loud to his district attorney son Bradford Dillman who in turn talks to redneck sheriff Ramon Bieri and let's say they perform their own highly illegal investigation because this man hasn't done anything. But he's a well dressed black man with good speech and manners so who knows what he could be up to. There's a strike going on in town at a factory which is their largest employer and he could be some leftwing agitator, a communist who knows.

Poitier isn't getting along any better with the black people he grew up with. They think he's a snob and the girl he dated at one time Beverly Todd can't figure him out.

Poitier is one of those humans who apparently has been granted certain insights the rest of us don't have. It's not in their nature to make really close friends. We've seen this in several films, two I can cite are The Passing Of The Third Floor Back with Conrad Veidt and one who was granted a bit more than insight to is Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile.

The beautiful thing about a film like Brother John is that you can put almost any kind of interpretation on it. Watch it and create your own.