Irmãos

The movie is filmed mostly with hand held camera, and the technical quality is not the best. I am normally not a fan of these so called "Dogme" movies, but it gives the opportunity to tell a story with a small budget and without having to waste time on special effects and so on. And what a movie. The actors play so intense and fascinatingly well, that I often sat on the edge of the seat, had "goose bumps"(gaasehud), wept like whipped(graed som pisket). The cutting is also very special and interesting. For instance a scene, where representatives of the military arrives to tell Sarah, that her husband is missing, it is cut right before they tell her the bad news. It gives a good effect. I would also like to welcome Connie Nielsen to the staff of fantastic Danish actors(her first danish movie) and will look forward to possibly/eventually watch/experience her great magic i a Danish movie again. I must write her a fan letter(my first).

Best picture we've seen in 2005. Why can't Hollywood make movies like this any more? Great cast, great direction, dialogue perfectly written comes through with power even in Danish with English subtitles! Connie Nielsen is in a league with Myrl Streep as an actress. The portrayal of the rough and tumble relationship of the brothers is so real it seems alive. Make sure you see this movie either in the theatres or on DVD. Nielsen is gorgeous but realistically portrays a housewife. The parents are classic Scandinavians, stolid and down to earth. Two little girls are played with zest and great energy. And the brothers, are quite believable as brothers. If you are interested in serious cinema and grown up movies "Brothers" should be on your list.

The family man Major Michael Lundberg (Ulrich Thomsen) is happily married with his beloved Sarah (Connie Nielsen) and adores his two daughters Natalia (Sarah Juel Werner) and Camilla (Rebecca Løgstrup Soltau). His younger brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) has just left prison on probation for bank robbery and has issues with his father Henning (Bent Mejding). Michael invites Jannik to have dinner at home with their family. When Michael arrives in Afghanistan, his helicopter crashes and he is considered missing in action. However, he is captured and sent to a camp where he meets the radar technician Niels Peter (Paw Henriksen). After a long period imprisoned, Micahel is forced to kill Niels with a bar to survive. Meanwhile Jannick comforts Sarah and the children and he becomes close to Michael's family. When Michael is rescued, he comes back home emotionally detached and paranoid. Further, he is convinced that Sarah and Jannik have slept together during his absence. When the envious Natalia lies during the birthday dinner party of her sister telling that her mother and Jannik had shagged to upset her father, the disturbed Michael triggers an intense paranoia jeopardizing his family.

"Brødre" is a powerful and realistic drama about lives destroyed by war. This film is extremely well-acted, with an adequate cast that gives credibility to the plot led by the gorgeous and excellent Connie Nielsen. The sensitive director Susanne Bier of "Efter Brylluppet" makes another extraordinary movie based on the family dynamics. Jim Sheridan remade this film in 2009, but in a shallow teen "americanization" version. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Brothers"

We all know that American cinema can't help itself to do remake of foreign films... That's why i saw Brothers before this original danish movie. When in this one all appears to be shot in steady cam, the American way tries to put some melodramatic trigger.

This version is about feelings, about situation and personal change: life make us evolve like every decision we take and nothing is good or bad, there is a lot of in between. The chose to accumulate the short shootings, practically no music or just a few notes on one instrument,are trying to bring us along this day to day story really well interpreted. The characters in their flaws or every day basis are believable, there is not so much emphasis like in the good but too much American film. It's in their nature to modify, adjust the deepness of the movie and after seeing this 2004 version, we actually miss something: this authenticity.

In both versions, dialogs, ellipses are exactly the same, but characters turned out to be different. We actually have to exact opposite films and this is a real challenge to see both.

It's not hard to classify this one--it's an intense psychological drama. Whatever mood you were in before you started, you are most likely to be in a somber mood at the end. Perhaps the less you know about the story the more it will involve you. This is one of those movies that makes you ask the questions, "What would I have done in that situation," and "How would I have lived with my decision."

The main thrust of the story is an intimate examination of how a tragedy affects family dynamics. Nature abhors a vacuum. Guilt, jealousy, and doubt drive this to an intense climax.

Parformances are first rate, particularly Connie Nielsen.