Blood Brother

Blood Brother is a beautiful and compelling story that takes the audience on an emotionally complex journey with Rocky Braat, Steve Hoover, and HIV positive Indian orphans. What I loved most about this movie is that it demonstrates that true love gives a person the strength to do and endure things far beyond what that person could ever imagine that s/he could do and that even the most ordinary person has the capability of doing and being a part of something extraordinary. One of the most poignant and hardest to watch scene was Rocky at the hospital taking care of the orphan near death. Rocky didn't just sit with the child, he acted as father and nurse staying by the child's side the entire time and cleaning up the oozing sores that covered his body including his eyes. Warning, this movie will leave you changed and will make you want to be a part of something outside of yourself.

They say friends are the family they choose and Rocky Braat went all the way to a little village in India to find his "family". His heart and soul came alive as he saw how he could make a difference in a little orphanage that helped children and their mothers with HIV. This movie follows this remarkable tale of self discovery as filmmaker Steve Hoover chronicles the epiphany his best friend and "blood brother" has as he transitions from the big city of Pittsburg to the annals of India. A very moving movie that shows you that within suffering, there are glimmers of happiness and hope. I saw this film as part of the Atlanta Film Festival and was deeply move by the spiritual message of discovering one's path and being true to yourself.

This is one of the most incredible/emotional films I've ever seen. As the previous reviewer described, it's about an American who gives up everything to go work at an orphanage for children with HIV in Chennai, India. It's hard to comprehend the vast suffering and abandonment that the children face, and the castigation on top of it over the fear (even well intentioned people have) of catching HIV from them. Yet it's ultimately a hopeful film made possible by the love and compassion of Rocky, and his friends who decided to make a documentary about his life/work. This film is so powerful and worth seeing on so many levels. It's certainly about love and compassion in the face of incredible suffering. And the willingness to look it in the eye and embrace it, literally. But it's also about marriage, family, healing, doubts, feeling overwhelmed, sacrifice, joy, beauty and pizza. Yes, pizza. And perhaps, it's also an opportunity to reflect on and re-frame the struggles and challenges we face in our own lives. Many thanks to Rocky and the film-makers for making the journey-- it's a portal into their world, and ultimately our own!

It is excellent film. I believe with all of my heart that it is a must see film. Steve Hoover made this film about his best friend Rocky Braat, because he was impacted and felt this story needed to be told to others. I agree with Steve and I am grateful his was able to tell it. Rocky gave up everything he had here in the states and moved to India, to take care of orphaned children with HIV/Aids. I know Rocky and Steve, they are being totally real. I feel that this is very inspiring and leaves me wondering what could I do to make a difference in someone's life, like Rocky is making. It is about giving unconditional love to others without expecting something in return. It is about the challenges that life can bring and how one might react to those challenges. This story is ongoing and updates are posted to Youtube.

At the our screening of Blood Brother at the Sundance Film Festival, the filmmakers had to ask the audience to stop our standing ovation. As a host for Sundance Film-Forward and the Human Rights Watch Film Festivals, I've seen hundreds of docs, and Blood Brother is far-and-away the best documentary our group had seen in years, and the best film we saw at Sundance this year - period. The film doesn't just have heart, either, but is full of stunningly beautiful cinematography with scenes that make the filmmakers seem impossibly lucky. The film swells with emotive music, inspired events, unscripted words of incredible wisdom, and moments of raw transparency. In the end, it becomes a film that transcends its genre.

At its core, Blood Brother is a universally appealing film, which I believe is one of the reasons it was such a rousing success at Sundance. It is a buddy film, a hero's journey, a drama, a comedy, and a love story all rolled into one epic documentary that reminds the viewer just how beautiful and valuable even the most tragic of lives can be. After the film, Rocky (the subject of the film) and the film crew hung around to answer questions, and it was clear that the film was an honest and genuine glimpse into the lives of extraordinarily compassionate people who truly live up to the radical kindness expressed in the film. It certainly deserves every accolade it has garnered so far.