Irmão

You will be marinated in Russian-ness after watching this gritty crime drama shot in St. Petersburg. Set in the early 1990s after the fall of Soviet communism, it's a movie whose co-star is the place. The crime and gunplay in the foreground, which cropped up after the collapse of stern authority, seems to perfectly match what we see in the background -- trash-strewn streets, grimy flats, drug-fueled nightclubs. Everyone is poor or barely getting by. Even the gangsters, who you'd think would have some Scarface-type perks, seem to live in squalor.

One thing that will instantly strike you is how everyone in the movie looks like someone you know, not a Hollywood star. I want to call particular attention to Svetlana Pismichenko, the film's love interest, who plays the driver of a streetcar that hauls lumber (?). She's not pretty at all, but you see the love she is capable of and, all I can say is I wish she were my girlfriend. Her last scene is one of the most memorable portraits of heartbreak I have ever seen. She has incredible eyes.

Sergei Bodrov plays the lead, a soldier just back from Chechnya who is drawn into his brother's gangland activities. We never see a flashback of what happened over there and, when asked by others in the film what he did, grins and said he was a clerk in HQ. As we come to see the fearlessness and ruthlessness he is capable of, it is obvious he is lying. This man is steel tempered in a furnace. His gangster enemies are no match for a man with his willingness to prepare for and face death.

I've never been to Russia, but I lived in the Czech Republic for three years and I can testify to the authenticity of this movie's backdrop. When the Iron Curtain fell, it revealed decaying rust belt cities, but also a tough-minded population of attractive and spirited people who, somehow, found ways to be happy in tough times. I am American and half Polish, and this movie made me proud to be a Slav.

A scene in the movie is a homage to Russian good cheer. It is a party in a Russian flat where a few dozen people are chatting, eating, smoking pot, drinking vodka, singing along to a guitar, shooting pool and having fun. They're all young people in their 20's. You'll wish you were at that party.

Post-Soviet Russia's rough crime drama. I certainly don't know the St. Petersburg, it digs into a poor society's underbelly trying to find its feet. With a very black sense of humor, dark and grim. The late Sergei Bodrov Jr. with a strong support cast around him is great in the lead. You see, you know... Apart from Eisenstein and Tarkovsky, there is Russian cinema. One more thing... If it had been done in any other country, it would have been restored by the Americans as a dumb, violent man.

One thing that some other reviewers failed to comment on is the way that you discover just who Danila is - he covers-up the fact that he saw action in Chechnya and always says he served far from combat. This story is really about the Russian crime situation LESS than about an entire generation of people who served in Afghanistan and Chechnya ('94-'96 and '99-present). This movie will be misunderstood by many Westerners (I am Russian myself) because it does not fit the traditional Hollywood screenplay style - and its characters do not behave themselves like most Hollywood characters would in a crime drama. There is a very Slavic quality in this film that I am VERY happy to see preserved and NOT Westernized. (You must see Brat2 to learn more about Brat.)

I haven't seen a crime movie with action more realistic than that in Brat. This movie emphasizes that when you get shot you can't run as fast as a cheetah unlike the Hollywood films even today. It was a breakthrough picture for Russia's film-making and, in my opinion, a picture that could take on most of American movies of the same or similar genre. You wanna see the way things were done in Russia five years ago? You wanna see cruel reality? You want to see the real criminal side of Russia? See Brat. It isn't only an amazing movie because it is so realistic, the acting is awesome and you won't get bored for sure. Brat 10/10

Or LITTLE ODESSA meets PUSHER, if you mix up the topic and the style. That's the first time I watch a genuine Russian crime movie, film noir, and so well done. I won't add much to the other comments anyway better than mine. I like this film, so surprising too and with a terrific story telling.