Brother's War

Okay I WAS going to start by saying this movie is simply atrocious BUT now I have had the pleasure of reading Hugh Daly's comments (please read them for yourself) my opinion has changed. I admit that I am guilty of armchair directing and picking holes in movies - I often comment that the movie must have cost a fortune to produce so why did they not realize how bad it was?

Well, Hugh Daly has let us know that not all movies have huge budgets and when you bear this in mind, things come into perspective. The actual premise of the movie is an interesting one and I rather liked the pairing of the British guy and the main German guy. I did not find Hugh's acting that wooden, and the German lead's acting was great throughout.

I am left wondering if German soldiers would refer to oncoming Russian tanks as "Panzers" - maybe this is a generic German term for "tank"? Of course I am only used to referring to German tanks as Panzers, but what do I know anyway? The uniforms, vehicles and similar things are very well done - the producers are to be commended. However trying to rate a movie of this type when it has had to deal with budget restraints is difficult. We all know that SPR and BOB were brilliant efforts and they have set the bar. Does this mean that we cannot forgive other war movies that try to tell a story with less resources?

Hugh Daly, I salute you and want you to know that it is refreshing to read feedback directly from the source!

Go into watching this movie with an open mind, knowing that it is NOT to be compared to the Spielberg efforts. You might like some or all of it.

This movie portraying the last days of WWII plays out like a spoof, worthy of the efforts of venerable "Weird" Al Yankovic. A stream of cartoon like characters, reminiscent of the residents of "Stalag 13", painfully trying to play "serious" roles. Evil, birded Gestapo agents... Evil, birded Russian front line army colonels, (moonlighting as NKVD executioners, wiping out entire governments)... Noble German Wehrmacht soldiers saving innocent maidens... Stupid Russian soldiers (drunk and horny, of course) who just can't wait to get killed...... This movie has it all. Maybe it all made a lot of sense to the producers. For me, unfortunately, none of it did. Not the director's hazy WWII history. Not the poor acting. Not the plot. Least of all not a $1 rental fee I paid to watch this masterpiece. So, is it: "roll over Private Ryan and tell Steven Spielberg to move"? Not for me.

If you are an American movie producer, director or scriptwriter, and you want to put a believable war story on film, you should observe a few ground rules: 1.) Find a reputable war story, that interest's and intrigues you.

Do not make a story up, or select events and clump them together,

if they are too remotely related.

2.) Have a few Veterans or Survivors consulted and included in the

extras of the DVD, from all sides. Hurry up, they will not be

around forever.

3.) Read the History part, try to be as authentic as possible.

4.) Read about soldiers from the other side, try to get their characters

and culture right.

The Russians in this film look like morons and goons, the director

should have watched some Russian war flicks like 'ZVESDA', 'SVOY'

or 'KONVOY PQ-17', to get the feeling.

5.) Have military advisers around, to make sense out of the action

scenes. At least this movie had some original vehicles like the

Hetzer. But they seemed to be lost on the Battlefield.

6.) Get actors, that act like soldiers act in wars.

Do not make the mistake of assigning pretty actors to one side,

and the most ugly ones to the other.

Do not dehumanize any side. Criticize them by their deeds, do not

paint them as subhumans.

7.) Do not make a war movie, that subjects to your ideology.

This one felt like a typical propaganda movie.

A very naive and born out of prejudiced klishe'.

8.) A good musical score, this was the only part in the movie, that was

done good.

Unfortunately the film starts well, well at least for the opening sequence. The acting is blah if even that. I'm actually a rather easily entertained movie goer and this was just too tough. I made it through the film for some unknown reason, perhaps I'm a bit of a sadist. The concept is good whereas this film is based on some tidbit of truth that the Russians have a secret that they don't want the Americans to find out about. The props and locations are good but the acting and lack of continuity in the plot makes this film worth passing by. I was especially irritated by the fact that everyone speaks English (the Germans and Russians) and the acknowledgment that "you speak good English," is all that let you know there was a language change. I ramble and that's a minor note but this movie was bad. Maybe they blew the budget on the props and tanks so they couldn't buy a good script or actors. I mean I just watched "I am Bruce" of Evil Dead fame and that was a bad movie but it kept me entertained. I wish I could say otherwise but you've been warned.

Plus of this film: Good Music and the ending credits Negative: everything else, God don't waste your time The lead actors were all just terrible ,supporting actors were OK but who watches a movie for supporting actors.

At first I was really mad at everyone who worked on this POS until I saw the credits. Than it all came together. The people responsible for stealing 2 hours of my life were apparently the two leads ,since they were the ones who wrote the story, produced and executive produced this piece of tripe A lesson for every actor out there. If your so bad at acting that no one will cast you and you have to write and fund your own movie maybe you need to find a new line of work.

If I could change one thing about this movie I would put a disclaimer on the front of the box warning audiences that narcissistic crap is to follow So to the actor with the fake British accent and tony the German lead, guys I want my $1 back.