My Brother Tom

Rarely do first time directors have the confidence to abandon superfluous dialogue and concentrate on the raw emotion of their story. Rotheroe is an exception. Not a frame is wasted as he explores the sexual trauma of two teenagers groping towards understanding in the magical woods.

The way it is haphazardly edited, the poor quality of the sound and the general disturbed nature of the plot and it's character's, all suggest that Dom Rotheroe has been watching too much of Lars von Trier at al.

We begin with 15 minutes of absolutely nothing - walking to and from school, little dialogue, little plot development apart from a hedgehog and the odd jump from a tree. But this laboured pacing sets us up for the almost 'mentioned-in-passing' rape of a young schoolgirl by her teacher. In her own bedroom. With her mother downstairs in the living room. We know from here that what we are watching is pretty serious stuff.

With an air of 'Heavenly Creatures', the two kids become almost inseparable, stripping off but doing little more than feeling each other and banging foreheads - we are shown an extremely intense relationship between two seriously messed up children.

I thought I recognised the girl who played Jessica from somewhere else, but looking at her bio there is nothing on there that rings a bell. She puts in an impressive performance which she'll probably never match, and one which I'm sure she'd be disappointed has only been witnessed by a small number.

On the whole, the film was very engaging and very hard-hitting - but the biggest compliment I can give, is that I'm pretty sure Mr von Trier would have loved it.

very surprised, too, to read so many bad comments. this is, at the very least, the best british film i ve seen this year. very strong, very emotional, very black&white: if u don't like that, do not go. else: IT S A MUST. (ps: FANTASTIC phtography by robby mueller. yes, handheld camera, nevertheless: FANTASTIC)

-funtoosh

My Brother Tom is about a subject that is, sadly enough, quite well known in my country. As you may know, we had a case of child abuse that was so gruesome that it has probably been covered by the news all over the world. Since Dutroux has been put in jail for the rest of his life, people gradually seem to be able to cope with the subject again. I guess that the fact that this movie was actually shown on television is a good example of that.

If you read the title of this movie, you might think that it is about a kid who's brother Tom is the victim of child abuse. That's not entirely true. In fact it is about two victims, a girl and a boy, who have found each other in their misery and try to deal with it together. Even though they aren't relatives, they call themselves twins. That's where the title comes from.

My Brother Tom is probably not the best movie for parents of young children who are easily worried. I guess they might get frightened by the idea that this could happen to their own children. However, you could also see it as a very good educational movie. Anyway, I must say that I liked it. The acting and the story are very convincing and are brought to you in a very good way. It shows very well how devastating this abuse is and what it can lead to in the end. I reward it with a 7.5/10

I found this film very disturbing. I had to watch it until the end.

The acting was such that I had to remind myself that it was acting sometimes. I feel that some actors are very brave to take on certain parts.

I think that in some darker places in the world (e.g. USA), elements of the population would confuse the actor with the part and abuse him. Congratulations to all involved for an excellent performance. The tension is never "Watch out behind you" but "Please, please, not that".

If this film causes just one adult to reflect on how his actions may damage a child then it is very worthwhile.