If you were in S.Petersburgh in the early nineties, you feel this movie has been able to grab a cubic meter of air of the city at that time, pack it, and give it to its viewers to breathe. The effect is physical. I can feel the smell of the wet dusty roads, the moulded no man's land of stairways in post soviet blocks of flats and much more. Apart from this high accuracy in physical sensation, the movie is multi-layered (you can watch in it a "boevik" action movie, a social analysis of the period, even a Dostoevki-like study on the value of brotherhood and after all, a unique picture of what Russia is, was, and will be. Those who can enjoy it in original will find some tasty bits of Russian irony and humor.
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andfalzo2 September 2005
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dave-sturm17 May 2010You 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. -
I really liked this movie. It was a gangster crime movie, but in a totally different style than most American films. There was a good story and great visuals of Russia. I liked the fact that not everything had to be explained to the audience. The director assumed that we were able to think for ourselves, i.e.; the lead character's 'true' past in the army. I don't believe that he was "just a clerk at HQ". I saw the DVD version, and watched the interview with the director. The film is even more amazing considering the shoestring budget. He got his friends to perform some of the acting roles as well as write and play the music (which was quite good). This is a great gritty film. Its one of the more watchable movies from Russia that I have seen. I gave it a 7 out of 10. I plan to see 'Prisoner of the Mountain' next, can't wait.
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princesskaeli26 April 2004This film was a blockbuster hit in Russia, for many reasons that international viewers might not understand. "Brother" is a film that speaks directly to Russians (especially the urban population) about the time period directly following the fall of the Soviet Union. This was a lawless time, full of uncertainty about everything including whether your life would be ended by a random criminal on the street. It also suggests the Russian disillusionment with the Chechen War (well, the first one of the 1990s).
Balabanov has created an intense crime drama that attempts to answer Dostoyevsky's "eternal question": what does one do in a lawless society? Danila, the hero, has lost his innocence during the war in Chechnya. In this way he really represents all of Russia in that he has lost his heritage and his identity, and now must make his way in the new Russia. Like many others at the time, Danila turns to crime in order to survive.
The most heart-wrenching thing about "Brother" is that it has an incredible likeness to the reality of life in St. Petersburg in the early 1990s. Though on the surface it seems to be full of senseless violence, Danila's search for identity (that mirrors Russia's) calls for an honest picture of the hard life of the period. -
DevilsFan19 December 2003I 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
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zhekov17 January 2009We had a similar lawless period in Bulgaria (the closest satellite to ex-USSR), so I believe that the film is fully correct in this aspect. More important, however, is that of the thousands of films about crimes and criminals, only a few are more or less realistic; my work is closely related to the judicial system, so I know what I'm talking about. Even the real-crime TV shows lie somewhat, their cases carefully selected - always fully resolved, always black and white. For that, and for that alone, Brother deserves a 10/10.
Note that in Russia, "kavkazian" (caucasian) stands for immigrants from the southern ex-USSR republics, mostly muslims, a fair share of them involved in criminal activities. -
pyotr-33 August 1999A fascinating look at the underworld of St. Petersburg, filled with excellent performances, especially by Sergei Bodrov III and Yuri Kutznetsov. I was swept away by the story and characters, thrown into their world. And there is no place else like St. Petersburg. I'd say it's a "must see."
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I haven't seen a crime movie with action more realistic than is, and can guarantee you that neither have you.This movie emphasizes that when you get shot you can't run as fast as a cheetah unlike the Hollywood films portray every day. The movie is multi-layered (you can watch in as an action movie), a social analysis of the period, even a Dostoevsky-like study on the value of brotherhood and after all, a unique picture of what Russia is, was, and will be.
The story is told brilliantly the main character Danila, doesn't tell or brag about his past, he actually makes himself out to be a humble guy, instead of saying he served in the hot spot in the war and was given recognition and bravery award for saving his platoon members, he often reminds people that he was far from combat, he is passionate and caring and not aggressive at all.
If you were in S. Petersburgh in the early nineties, you feel this movie has been able to grab a cubic meter of air of the city at that time, pack it, and give it to its viewers to breathe.
filled with excellent performances, especially by Sergei Bodrov III and Yuri Kutznetsov. I was swept away by the story and characters, thrown into their world. I'd have to say it's a MUST SEE!!! -
akdjreview18 December 2021Brother or Brat is an interesting film played out during the post soviet era in Russia. The only knowledge about the movie I came in with was that the budget was 10k dollars. And to my surprise, it's incredible what the director managed to compile.
A story-driven movie about a lost Russian boy that manages to end up in crime ends up being great. With a quite boring beginning, it turns out better at the end.
Brat manages to create some stunning cinematography that is beautiful. With a few exceptions, there were a few poorly filmed scenes, especially on the tram.
I highly recommend you watch Brat you won't be disappointed. A true Russian cult classic that is different from the usual western movies. -
thatgraograman25 February 2021It's very easy, especially for a non-russian person, to mistake "Brat" for just another action movie. It's true - the protagonist Danila is a criminal, he's surrounded by bandits and he's not shy too use his gun. But it's much more complicated.
Infact, "Brother" resembles much more a time capsule of the "Wild West" years of the Russian 90s, a reflection of the Russian soul than a crime thriller. To understand this, one must know the context of the world this movie is playing in, though.
In the 1990s, it looked like Russia was finished. The USSR had just dissolved. After being a socialist superpower for more than 70 years, Russia turned into a turbo-capitalist country where only the law of the strongest, the law of the jungle, applied. On the verge of a civil war, with local conflicts like in Chechnya flaring up, oligarchs usurped what the vanished Soviet Union had left behind. Gangsters took advantage of the power vacuum that had arisen with the withdrawal of the state and fought each other for the biggest piece of the pie. Gang shootings occurred almost every day in every major city. Returning war veterans from Grozny, many drafted at the age of 18, had never learned anything in their lives but to kill and provided a constant supply for the mercenary armies of the gang bosses.
One such veteran is our main character, Danila. Returning to his home, he keeps silent about what he has seen and done in the war, saying he never got to fight. Thus, his mother has no idea what he went through. She raves about his older brother Viktor, who, unlike him, would make himself useful making big money and tells Danila to visit him.
Although his mother apparently refuses him the love that he would have particularly needed after his assignment in Chechnya, he accepts her advice. His behavior is reminiscent of a Russian proverb: If the whole family is together, the soul is also in place. Danila takes a train to the big city Saint Petersburg, which only recently was called Leningrad, and thus symbolizes the end of an old and the beginning of an new era. The crumbling facades of the old houses there reflect the state of the whole country. Finally he meets his older brother. It becomes clear that the child his mother was so proud of makes his living not the way she had imagined it: Viktor is a contract killer. Unlike Danila, he adapted himself to the new world they are living in - a world where money determines the value of a life. For Viktor, power lays in money, and thus it's only logical for him to immediately take advantage of his little brother and use him to do all kinds of dirty work. Danila, on the other hand, has a completely different character. For him, power lays in truth. He's a very simple and uneducated young man, can't tell America apart from France, but not dumb. He knows what his brother is up to. Although it becomes clear that Danila acquired significantly superior combat skills in Chechnya, he still does what his older brother wants - after all, Viktor is his own flesh and blood.
Danila feels lost in the big city of Saint Petersburg. In one scene you see him buying CDs of his favorite rock band Nautilus, happy as a child, in another he's committing brute force. He is torn between the things he loves and his cruel surroundings. His peers make fun of his "old-fashioned" taste in music (which you can hear throughout the film) and naivety, while the elderly reject his violent way of life. He tries to protect the woman he fell in love with, but ends up only hurting her. What happens to him can be paraphrased in a dialogue he has with a Volga German with whom he befriends: "You said that the city means power, but everyone here is weak." - "The city is an evil power. The strong come here, become weak. The city takes power. And now you are lost too."
"Brat" is a story about a man who tries to keep his soul in a soulless world. It's a Russian cult movie and can be a unique experience - but only if you allow it to be so. -
yanmazor15 September 2007A memorial to Russia's anarchy during the late president Yeltsin times, shot in sepia colors, just like some other Balabanov movies. The film is focusing on the simple Russian lad (played by late Bodrov-Jr.) who's just got demobilized from the army. Everything's new to him in the big city of St. Petersburg where he comes to see his hit-man brother: Russian cult band Nautilus, mores of the new Russia, hectic imitation of the Western lifestyle, foreigners, drugs, and even the new Russian slang. He cannot tell the difference between English and French, doesn't like Jews and filmmakers. He tells everybody he was just a scribe at the headquarters, but definitely lies, demonstrating brilliant skills of a hit-man, quite surpassing those of his older ne'er-do-well cowardly brother (and doing jobs for him). A spectator of this movie from outside Russia, especially the one who doesn't hail from the Soviet Union, may think of Medieval Dark Ages into which Russia of the 90's was immersed. The "mysterious Russian soul" interlaced with interesting contemporary Russian rock legends soundtrack goes on to be depicted in "Brat 2", focusing on the same character Danila's adventures in the US, further emphasizing the difference of Russia's and America's mindsets. In 2005, Same filmmaker Aleksei Balabanov shot "Zhmurki" ("Blind Man's Bluff") further mocking Russia's 90's period and further emphasizing the difference between that interim period Russia and and cold-blooded modern Russian Federation where same crimes are done in much slicker way.
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searchanddestroy-113 December 2020Or 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.
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lee_eisenberg4 April 2009In what may have been Sergei Bodrov Jr's most famous role before his untimely death - he got killed in a landslide while filming a movie in 2002 - he plays an outcast from a small Russian town who moves to St. Petersburg, where he becomes a hit-man. "Brat" (the Russian word for brother) has some pretty ugly imagery, but nothing gratuitous. The scenes in which Danila goes to McDonald's represent his life: it's fast food, and he lives fast. The streetcar represents the fleeting nature of his love life. The scene where he washes his hands in the water suggests that he is washing away his sins (although he will probably never be able to fully escape his actions during his time in St. Pete).
I certainly recommend this movie. Partially a look at conditions in post-Soviet Russia*, it pulls no punches. You'll likely want to avoid it if you're the squeamish type. There was a sequel, but it apparently wasn't worth seeing.
*People in Moscow have told me that under Yeltsin, nothing worked right in Russia, and so they like that Putin and Medvedev at least fixed that aspect. -
jeremia-9423213 August 2018This movie is much inferior to its sequel Brother 2, and some other masterpieces of Balabanov, like the bleakly realistic Cargo 200 . That it is a no budget film is not a problem, many Eastern European movies are and are far superior. This is a commercial hit, and it is a Russian version of a Hollywood movie. Decent acting, but ultimately boring and lacking on artistic front, it is nevertheless improvement compared to the similar Russian cinema of the day, worth mostly for its realistic portrayal of the Russian decadence in the 90s and beyond.
The movie is tailored as populist take pandering to its Russian public. Brother 2 is more nationalistic but also much more artistically accomplished. This move was meant to earn money and it did, so Balabanov used it to make his arthouse masterpiece "Of freaks and men" that has much more to say about a true state of "Russian soul" than this one. All foreigners are portrayed in bad light. The murderous cute boy Danila (actor died in an avalanche, fittingly, a few years later, ushering him into legend in the eyes of vull gar Russian public) goes on to search for his identity by dating corrupt married women and druggies an accurate portrayal of womanhood in Russia to this day.
The mobsters are all realistic, common Russian folk, who practice rr ape (that they became famous for during WWII, so much so that Yugoslav leader Djilas had to scorn Stalin for that, while Stalin defended the "poor soldier lover boys" and approved the rr apes as normal, thinking nothing about the innocent victims, he tried and often managed to enn slave. Fittingly, being kicked out of proud Yugoslavia and when trying to off leader Tito, getting an apt and bad ass message from fellow autocrat, much more sophisticated than the Georgian proudest son - "We caught 7 people trying to kill me. If you don't stop sending them, I will have to send one myself. There will be no need to send another." ). Movie deals ample doses of adult terry, murder, petty mob and Russian version of western hubris and hypocrisy, that is here documented at its most wounded, washed in copious amounts of vodka.
Having been to Russia at its deepest point of ruin, at the time this movie was made, I can attest to its realism. The unclean fly markets at every metro station, immorality, adoration for worst of western "culture" or dismissing it with unearned hubris, all ring very real. President Putin got Russia out of this mud, and it is no surprise that he is ever so popular. Despite it being essentially a populist commercial Russian potboiler pandering and complimenting the worst instincts of this sometimes great, but often self absorbed nation, it is worth a watch if only to understand how decline and decadence look like up close. Russians might tap themselves over their thick shoulders telling that it is movie speaking only to themselves, but this movie is in fact very successful not only in over the top pandering managing to earn director enough money to move to more serious projects (luckily for everyone), but also for revealing, beneath the nationalistic facade, the true face of well deserved decline after decades of Russian imperial lism in the cloak of being the main bearer of socialist idea that they almost ruined - a fate that awaits the Amuricans too, as the Soviets were as conceited as they are before hitting the rock bottom during the well deserved but awakening Yeltsin years -
lczirr11 May 2004In the film "Brat", themes surrounding relationships and family take on broader meanings in Russian culture. The main character, Danila, returns to visit his brother Viktor at his mother's insistence. The relationship between the brothers is unlike what one would expect; Viktor even betrays Danila at one point. Danila does not make a real connection with anyone; by the end he has severed ties with everyone he had met. Interestingly, his actions form a parallel to Russia's attempts to leave behind the past and hint at possible attitudes toward other cultures.
The title "Brother" itself indicates that the relationship between the brothers is the most important in the film. Viktor was much like a father to Danila in the past, indicating that their relationship, while always close, had changed over the years. Viktor's character represents the past: he is successful only because of his criminal dealings, as many were during the Soviet days. Danila is pulled into these dealings of the past because he has no other direction, just as the present Russia was still unsure of where it was going. The past is well known and understood, even if it is not the best course of action. Danila kills other gangsters, who are clearly part of this past world: he operates within the system in order to destroy it. In many instances he must kill these individuals out of defense, just as certain aspects of the old Soviet culture had to be destroyed or they would ruin the new way of life Even Sveta's situation represents the past. Danila tries to free her from her abusive relationship, yet she is disgusted with the way he tries to help her. Similarly, many people might not be willing to kill off or sever ties with the past; it is the only life they have known.
Other people who Danila meets are similarly different forces acting on the culture; some of them could stand for foreign influences in Russia. The girl Ket exemplifies Western culture, particularly America: she likes to party and eat McDonalds. Ket's obsession with money also depicts the stereotypical American perspective. Danila eventually breaks off connection with her, giving her some money before leaving her. This attitude illustrates the fact that while the new Russia is open to the far western influence of America, the people do not necessarily want to accept this culture, nor is it a good idea for them to do so if they wish to maintain their own identity. Danila's relation to the German represents the general Russian relation to this western European country. Russia's relations with Germany have occasionally been somewhat tense, and the character points out "what is good for the Russian is death for the German." The German refuses the money that Danila offers him in the end, perhaps a statement that Germany (or maybe Europe in general) has no tolerance for the morally corrupt way of the old Soviet Union. Indeed, Danila brings the bodies to the graveyard where the German and others stay, urging him to give them a decent burial. It seems that the new Russia wants other Europeans to figuratively bury the past, and can not necessarily accomplish this task alone. However, the fact that Danila breaks off ties with the German shows a desire for Russia to deal with the past in its own way. Whether or not this will lead to trouble in the future is uncertain. Yet it seems that Danila is entirely capable of dealing with these problems on his own, even though the means by which he does so is not ideal in most eyes. -
This Russian film about a young hitman in St. Petersburg could just as easily have been set in London or New York; killing for profit's the same everywhere, isn't it, and yet Aleksey Balabanov's terrific thriller "Brother" seems peculiarly Russian. You wouldn't really find these characters in London or New York and what happens here wouldn't necessarily happen there, at least not in this fashion.
Danila, (Sergey Bodrov, excellent) is a young ex-soldier who gets into trouble at home so his mother packs him off to live with his older, well-off brother in St. Petersburg. The thing is, however, big brother is a hitman and very soon Danila is, too. The thrills Balabanov serves up aren't the ones you expect. This is a character study like Melville's "Le Samourai" but our young anti-hero is a rank amateur compared with Delon, although he does know his way around a gun. Danilo thinks he's a big shot but he's just another young boy with a passion for rock music, (the film has a terrific score). Even the ending isn't the conventional one. See this. -
jeeap29 May 2018Anything you wanted to know about that "strange russian soul" is in this movie but I doubt anybody will treat it like a piece of useful information. The West thinks Russians are more asians than europeans. The East thinks they are more europeans. Both agree they are a mix. But they are not )) They are in their own Universe and even Christianity brought to them 1000 years ago didn't change that. When you try to instill new rules in them they make you think they follow the script when they actually don't. It doesn't matter what type of government they have, communist or capitalist, they will first adapt to it and then transform it to something totaly different from its initial plot.
The main character in Brother is not a lost soul in historical turbulence as many here suggest. On the contrary, the no-law-zone is the only comfortable environment for him. It gives him a purpose and a mission. No salary or stable office job can substitute that for him. He is a hitman without benifits of being a hitman, without customers or bosses. He is getting his orders directly from the Universe and his potetntial death doesn't scary him at all. Not a bit. -
yadavanita-1809324 February 2021Brat(1997) and Brat 2 (2000) are two smoking hot Russian neo-noir crime film coming straight from Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Unlike their American Counterparts with lot of glamour and spice, these two stay in the streets with the most realism you can find showing real street thugs and fights.
Calling it a mafia movie may not do these justice and shift the focus of the viewers completely from its realistic approach to show a normal person entering into the world of Crime.
The Search for 'Nautilus' s Wings' is strong and so is the blood for revenge. The movies don't show direct big action sequences or killings and cut right before them or change the camera angle, allowing for the viewer to interprete on their own, but not completely as it stratergically crafts the scene up to show most while showing minimum.
The Handling of Guns and their modification just before a hit are satisfying in a new scense, it is not like tuco making his custom revolver in 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", you get to see making of bullets, shotgun shells, bombs, sawed of rifles etc.
The second part like most other films is not an downgrade but in many sense an Upgrade, which gives you the feeling of' Coming to America' Russian Style.
The portrayal of Russians are also human, not like the americans showing a big man fighting bear while Drinking Vodka bare handed, Or an Mafia Manic with Ak-47 and shotgun, shooting everybody up in his path. Showing a Hitman movie like it should be Shown, with mlre tension and planning and not 'boom bam-over'. These along with Brothers(2000) by Takeshi Kitano, show us how an good crime movie set in America away from their Native land should be made while keeping their regional Essense. -
searchy26 March 1999This is a great Russian movie, made in a post-soviet Russia, which is looking for a new identity. It is new style Russian cinema, cheaply made due to lack of money, but therefore it has a very genuine feel of it. The story of Daniil that becomes more and more violent than his - already gruesome - brother, is very compelling and horrible at the same time. If you want to begin with a modern Russian movie, rent this one, it has that 'old ultra-violence' thing. It will definitely blow off your socks.
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deloudelouvain9 February 2022I got fooled by the extremely high rating this movie got on here. Well fooled is a big word because Brat (or Brother for the English title) isn't a bad movie but it's also not a gem. To me it's just overrated. Maybe if I was Russian I would think differently, but I'm not, I'm Belgian. The story isn't bad, but it's not incredible either. It's just entertaining enough to never get bored. The acting skills from Sergey Bodrov playing the main character are certainly not bad, it's one of the positive things about Brat. Would I watch it again in the future? Probably not as there are way too much better movies that I didn't watch yet, but for a Russian movie it's rather good.
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mikomijade5 February 2007That is what makes BRAT real masterpiece of the film-making - it looks real to the last shot. Every moment is a true history of Post Soviet Russia. Even Ukraine was of that kind. We are kinda different now but not in 1990's. All the atmosphere is real - I was not very adult then but I remember everything of the 1990's clearly - I was 17 when the movie was made and this movie was a call of reality for everyone here. You don't have to say it is impossible - we had people killed like that... Sergey Bodrov is a good actor and all the actors in the movie are great. The music of Nautilus makes the atmosphere of being there just at the moment of the story development. This band was on the top of it's popularity at the moment of the middle 1990's. There are a lot of people here allover the Post Soviet places who are fans of the band.
Any way - this movie is about some real aspects of real Post Soviet history. -
davidbello77725 November 2014At first glance Brat, (Brother), comes across as a grim and humorless portrayal of post-Cold War Russia, but beneath the surface it is a strong critique of the dangerous wounded animal that the country has become: mass poverty, crime, alienation of the youth and failing family structure all act as dramatic catalysts in the system, adding to the problems and attitudes of 1990s Russia. Our vantage point revolves around the young Danila and follows through with his reintroduction to life outside the military, into the city. Although Danila is surrounded by the gloom and doom of the Communist aftermath where social structures are collapsing into near anarchy, he remains an allegorical symbol of the state of Russia's acute sense of right and wrong and offers hope for a brighter future and some semblance of a moral code.
In St. Petersburg Viktor is successful, but we find that it is at being a hit-man for the Russian mafia, which is also making him paranoid. After tying up Dani in a scheme to take out a competitive Chechen mob boss in his stead while simultaneously usurping the Russians, Dani is now in over his head with the mob, and becomes a killer. Meanwhile each character Danila meets represents a different aspect of Russian culture and institutional disillusionment. He begins with Kat, a disaffected youth who only cares for him only for the money he has to buy acid and go raving. Later in the film, Dani goes out with Kat to do just that, and finds himself at a house party telling fellow inebriated foreigners, "Soon all of your America will kick the bucket!" When Kat tells him to stop badgering them because they're French, he replies with "It's all the same." Clearly, there is no thawing of Western resentment, even in the youth, daily indoctrinated by their seniors. It is only when Russians seek to find their own identity, not to emulate the capitalist West as Yeltsin's failed attempt of economic shock therapy sought to do, that there is a renewed sense of nationalistic pride. We see this again when two American tourists ask Danila for directions to a nearby club and he is disapprovingly silent.
Danila's moral compass takes on some unorthodox manifestations as is not unlike the general occurrences of the city. On a public bus, a ticket-taker asks two men to either supply a ticket or provide the fee. As they disrespectfully hassle the official to leave them alone, Dani makes them pay at gunpoint. Here the impoverished Dani has the chance to take all of the contents of the man's wallet, which contains much more than the $7 fee, but he takes only the fee amount and tells them to beat it. Shortly after, a thug is hassling a street trinket-seller for "taxes" and threatens to take his goods. Danila swiftly knocks the thug out and makes friends with the man named Nemets, a homeless German. When his nationality comes up later, Danila says he has no problems with Germans, only Americans and Jews (Westerners). Nemets remains Danila's kindest friend throughout, and moral anchor, constantly supplying the wisdom of the film. Ironically, the most foolish character is the Russian Mob boss, who speaks in rhyming proverbs, but is driven by greed and power.
Another disillusionment comes in the form of a brief love interest named Sveta, whose husband is an abusive drunk. This failing family mirrors the situation all over the city, as Nemets so sagely says, "The city is an evil force. The strong come and become feeble. The city takes the strength away. And now you've fallen." Even Dani's bitter old landlord speaks to everyone threateningly as though it is still WWII unless he is intoxicated. Nemets' words weigh heavily on Danila. In the climax moment when his brother (unbeknownst to Dani) has him cover his position in a heist suspected to be a trap, some innocent people get mixed up in the hit, one of them being the frontman of his favorite band. Danila makes a promise to save an innocent and turns on the two mob thugs when they finish their hit and start killing the witnesses.
Danila has come to a realisation that his life is becoming the very substance he is fighting against, but that is not the end of his criminal lifestyle. The mob learns of this and take his brother in for beating and questioning. Then they discover Danila's address and rape and beat Sveta while he is away. Dani gets prepared to liberate the community of the mob and rescue his brother simultaneously. As he is made known to the front guard, in an act of mercy he gives him his word to spare his life if he remains quiet, which he follows up with after killing the rest of the gangsters. As Danila makes amends with the ultimate betrayal (his brother's) he takes the mob money and seeks to say goodbye to each of his acquaintances, to which he offers the only reparation he knows--money. Sveta has lost interest and seeks to reunite with her estranged husband, Kat passively accepts Dani's farewell and cash and Nemet follows up with his words of wisdom once more, "what's good for the Russian is death for the German," a message contrary to his earlier mantra.
Brother was Russia's big contemporary crime thriller. But besides being a low-budget blockbuster, it carries an important story of the resurfacing of morals in a fallen world, serving as a message for its Russian audience. The film ends with Danila hitching a ride to Moscow in a red (Russian) truck amidst the white backdrop of a road and forest blanketed with snow, symbolising the new beginning for Russia. -
grendel-288 April 1999Dunno about great, but it's definitely a DIFFERENT Russian movie. A demobilized conscript turned hitman on the backdrop of new capitalist Russia and the music "progressive-rock" group Nautilus Pompilius. Product of the war in Chechnya Danila Bogrov is a young man who knows how to kill and practically nothing else, his relations with people he does not have to kill are the most difficult ones for him. There is a lot of violence but it happens either outside the screen or almost outside, here Brat reminds me of Fireworks by Takeshi Kitano. Good Stanislavsky school of acting so visible in old Soveit movies in this one does not exist (save maybe Kuznetsov) but camerawork is rather impressive. I'm not sure I like this movie but definitely it does not suck.
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alice liddell27 July 2000Anyone who has seen Balabanov's eerie OF FREAKS AND MEN may be shocked by this very straightforward thriller about a young army deserter who becomes an efficient killer. Its tale of betrayal is reminiscent of ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, and Danila is also very much like The Man With No Name, a motiveless stranger pitting two enemies against each other until they are wiped out. The opening sequence (sparse forest, castle, robed woman, intimations of S&M) suggest Gothic,as does a certain burial sequence, but, try as we might, we cannot get away from the sheer amoral banality: a gloriously unneurotic hero, a sweet boy who does everything people of his age should (loitering, discman, drugs, concerts, parties etc.) and just happens to be handy with a gun (he is also the only worker in this former worker's paradise).
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magicmn1 August 2013This movie a well as like almost any movie of this editor brings only negative messages to people. Nothing good in such kind of art, when you are watching just stupid film you didn't loose anything except your time and maybe small part or your taste(for most idiotic examples), but this one just cant keep any good person calm cause its full of evil and pure pointless inhumanity.
Its an anthem for worst part of 90s in Russia, but without any positive message, just like propaganda of moral degradation and violence as the way of life.
So i just cant recommend it for anyone except for professional critics and psychology fans.