For min brors skyld

When I watched this movie at first I found it very dark and sad yet masterfully produced. The camera work provides a very realistic atmosphere yet every single facial expression and gesture is captured clearly. And Elias Munk's (Ake) acting is one of the best I've ever seen. It was so well done that I could go back after a month and rewatched the brother scenes a couple times. The way the 2 actors portray the relationship between the 2 brothers is on another level the most realistic, beautiful, tragic brother duo I've ever witnessed off and on TV. Every single facial expression and gesture is naturally acted out the best cast especially the 2 brothers. Thank you for this gem and for bringing attention to such an important topic. This movie and Elias deserve to win so many awards.

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.

I thought this was a really well made movie. The acting is always good enough, and even brilliant in some parts. The scenery is amazing. The characters are endearing, and make you really care about them.

I will say that there were parts which were not perfect. The beginning was a little weak, but good enough to provide just enough backstory, without going overboard.

I actually LIKE the shaky camera work. It really added to the emotional connection. There were scenes where the camera would jerk right as something horrible happened, and it mirrored the emotional jerk that I experienced. In fact, that makes it a bit metaphorical. Everything happening is so chaotic, frustrating and unstable, and the camera makes you feel that way inside which helps the viewer to connect to what the characters are feeling inside. I think it is absolutely genius.

The scenes of the natural tranquil beauty conveys the sense of isolation and contrasts nicely with the chaotic ugliness and violence which is happening unnoticed, as if nobody, even the natural environment cares. This, again, gives you a sense of compassion, and helps you to understand what the victims feel like.

The whole movie is full of poetic metaphor, and analogy. It is a true work of art, and actually pretty well made for such a low budget. You get a sense that a lot of thought went into it. And, all of this without the use of CGI, cutaways, sudden flashbacks, or any of the other usual Hollywood devices. It was so emotionally engaging, and thought provoking.

I like how the ending drops you off, and leaves you wondering how things are going to turn out. It was truly painful to watch, because you really understand how this affects the main boy, and how horrific this experience is for him. Several parts brought me to tears, especially the ending. Any movie which can achieve that is a good movie. Personally, I think that they pulled off something truly magical with this one, and now I want to see more by this director.

As for the subject matter, I think the writer was a little heavy handed in their approach, but it is something which does happen, and we really owe it to those silent victims to watch this movie, and understand what is happening to them. I think they managed to really make that possible with this movie, and I would strongly recommend it as something which all of us should watch.

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.

Just remember that this is not a film to entertain you, but it is here to open your eyes on the child abuse issue. This is one of the major problems today we're facing around the world. All the governments had taken the strict actions on the matter, yet somewhere without being noticed domestically these things keeps happening. Such a theme was this film, which is not easy to digest the ugly truth it reveals.

Looks like a B movie from the Denmark, the production quality was decent, but the topic of the film was very strong and that makes it a must see even if you think you're not made for the micro- budget, not-so-popular films.

I've seen films like 'Trade', 'Taken', 'Eden' et cetera, but this is something a new angle about when parents are directly involved in the such dirty affairs. This story was about two brothers and their miserable childhood. After their mother died of an accident, they end up in the custody of their abusive father. Life won't be the same as it was before to them, but the eldest takes all the measures to protect his little brother. Unfortunately, it looks the fate is not on their side when a terrible thing unfolds after one bad evening, which leads to a chain of events before concluding the narration with a twist.

"When I grow up I won't hit my kids."

I am really lucky to find this film, which is yet to open its wings to reach the wider audience globally. I know this is not a film to have some good time, but might disturb you with its strong contents. Yes, the film has some of the bold scenes which strongly restricts for the adult's viewing. The film was shot in some of the beautiful locations, but what the story was dealing makes us to focus only on the cruelty the two minors are encountering.

Just watch it to believe what's actually happening in the families of child abuse history. If this is what the fate of innocent children in the first world nation's lower class families, then imagine what about the second and the third world. If you had seen 'Trade of Innocents' and 'Graceland', you will get a clear picture.

The director and actors are all the fresh faces, but given a one good product as the theme wise. One of the few things I did not feel comfortable was the camera work. It was very shaky and in the initial part it had given me a hard time to get used to it. Because of that kind of screenplay, it looked like it was shot with a camcorder.

The others were the nude parts which were a bit unnecessary for a little film like this, but they went for a bold statement and I appreciate that effort. And finally the story, in some segments it did not convince me, as they were way too off from real like the accident in the beginning and dragging climax. If you won't mind these things considering it is a B movie, this film is definitely worth seeing. So here it goes my recommendation for the grown ups only.

8/10