For My Brother

In Denmark, a filmmaker named Brian Bang (not to be confused with American pornographer Brian Bangs) made a film about paedophilia and incest ten years ago called «For My Brother», with a certain sensationalist and voyeuristic touch, which was rejected by cinemas and television and in November 2014 it was released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

It tells the story of a paedophile pornographer (Allan Karlsen) who has been raping his eldest son Aske since he was a child, sells him to whoever wants to "use" a 15-year-old's body or see him in an erotic video, and threatens to replace him with his little brother Bastian if he does not submit to his designs. Needless to say, the film is not easy to watch, because Bang left little to the imagination and revelled in nudity on camera.

Bang took on almost all the key roles: he directed, wrote, produced, photographed, edited, was head of casting and art director. For some, the sloppy, "home movie" style photography seems like an aesthetic choice, but if you watch other films by the filmmaker (also photographed by him) the handling of the camera is equally capricious and careless, as an amateur would. The editing is gimmicky, and the script is an endless accumulation of tragic events that undermines the level of probability of the story.

Bang was luckier in choosing a cast of unknown and natural actors, who give the film some credibility, although the performances in general are poor. Perhaps the actor playing Aske (Elias Munk, who was 22 years old when he made the film and has since made a career as an actor and writer) has convincing moments, but they are few. The best scenes are when the two brothers Aske and Bastian (Christoffer Jensen) are together and seek affection, protection and tranquility.

Finding information about Bang (Denmark, 1978) on the internet is not easy either. Before this film, he made «Bunkeren» (2009) and «Ouija» (2012), and in 2019 the short about children «Zombies». There is little information about all three on the internet, although you can watch them (in Danish without subtitles) on his Bang Entertainment channel on YouTube and notice the emphasis on children and teenagers.

I'm not telling you not to watch it, but if the film makes you uncomfortable, you were warned.

This movie is guaranteed to stick with you for YEARS. I have to applaud Brian Bang for having the courage to make this raw and honest film. He filtered out none of the horrors of this subject matter. I was sweep in right from the beginning. This film is disturbing on so many levels. No synopsis of this movie will prepare you for what is captured on film. It took me two days to watch it because I was so overwhelmed I had to pause it and walk away. Much appreciation has to go out to the cast for being brave enough to even participate. I have to say I honestly believe I have never had such an emotional reaction to a movie. Brain Bang's direction is wonderful. No fancy camera angles, the background never superceded the story, and he forced you to feel every horror and hopelessness of Aske. But the thing that will actually bring you to tears is that this story is actually happening to real children.

I can't honestly explain this movie, it's definitely a hard watch but worth it, I felt as if I was watching a horror, it is hard to believe this kind of evil exists. Aske the protagonist broke my heart, it is a lower-budget movie but the acting was good, and the director portrayed the story very well, it is a 2-hour movie but no part was slow. The beginning scene is a bit dodgy but hang in there because it's worth it. Such a beautiful brother relationship, The movie really shows the brother's relationship, Aske is by far the best big brother in history.

It is a movie that stays with you forever.

We're all used to watching bad movies, and if you don't mind obscure b-flicks, you get used to inept ones also. But what is less common is a marriage of genuinely upsetting real-world material that could be plucked from any newspaper, with handling so amateurish that it would be better suited to a Godfrey Ho movie with the word "Ninja" in the title.

"For My Brother" is a movie that makes you realise so-bad-it's-good material like "The Room" and "Samurai Cop" aren't really as inept as you may have thought. At least they didn't feature shockingly graphic footage of abuse, handled so badly that you can't believe what you're watching.

Take the opening scene, for example, which just ladles on distressing material well past breaking point until what we're left with just feels ridiculous. A husband and wife are on holiday in the woods with some random guy who is obviously there simply to molest the couple's son. Somehow the wife is unaware of this arrangement, but when the man leads the kid off into the anonymity of the woods, with the father's blessing, she realises immediately and hysterically goes looking for him. She finds him in time, resolves, loudly, to call the police on the duo of husband-and-stranger, and runs off with a mission - until, boom, she's hit by a car.

The fact that this collision is shown totally unconvincingly doesn't help, but this whole sequenceis so unconvincing it doesn't matter. It is catastrophe upon catastrophe, none of it is believable, but the inclusion of abuse and incest into the equation leaves a truly bad taste in the mouth; you certainly can't enjoy it as camp.

The movie jumps ahead some years and we see what this disastrous family situation has turned into: the alcoholic pederast father not only abuses his oldest son, he also pimps him out to friends and films the sex to sell on DVD. He even has a female client who pays to have sex with the son. There is a younger son, and the whole purpose of the eldest's life is to prevent the dad from doing to him what he has long done to the first born.

This is pretty unbelievable. How is the eldest able to keep his violent father from his younger brother? The movie seems to think this is achieved by making sure he is always available for the old pervert. Even if this is possible... what about the other abusers the old man apparently makes his living off? He is not merely a pederast, he's also a pimp and pornographer. Clearly he is not beholden to any form of morality, so it doesn't make sense that the younger boy isn't involved in it already.

Clearly the reason for this lack of involvement is that the movie is supposed to be a touching depiction of the older boy's concern for the younger. These actors actually do what they can with their parts - in some scenes they are convincing, in others not - but we never see anything like insight into how kids in their situation might really feel about each other.

They are cardboard cut-outs, forced to act out the stupid morality play the inept director has constructed for them.

Very powerful, real , dark movie and EXTRAORDINARY acting! it is honestly one of the best movies made. I've never witnessed such a strong, pure, beautiful real brother relationship ever I am simply shook! and Aske is for sure the BEST big brother ever it's just unbelievable how gentle and loving he is toward Bastian after all he's been enduring <33.. He reads him stories, puts him to sleep, protects him, is there for him ALWAYS and supports him emotionally and in every other way possible... it is insane to think how he was able to protect Bastian for over 5 years considering how his 'mother' even failed to protect him from all that evil. Aske truly deserves the world and beyond and Bastian is also such an angel. These 2 are the best, most innocent brothers I've ever watched on TV and real life! Aske will forever remain in my heart forever <3 This movie and Elias Munk (Aske) deserve so many awards <3