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My Brother the Devil

My Brother the Devil (2012)

January. 22,2012
|
6.5
|
R
| Drama

Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

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VividSimon
2012/01/22

Simply Perfect

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Dotbankey
2012/01/23

A lot of fun.

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Fairaher
2012/01/24

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

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Mandeep Tyson
2012/01/25

The acting in this movie is really good.

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Do I Need To?
2012/01/26

It did take two sittings for me to get through this, the beginning felt like a lot of scene-setting, not all of which was compelling or necessary to the story line. Some of the acting felt a bit wooden. A lot of the side-characters were very forgettable. Mo's friendship with Aisha didn't really go anywhere. Wish that Rash and Sayyid's relationship, which was suddenly introduced out of *nowhere*, could have been explored more. And for god's sake, is it possible for people to actually say the word *bisexual*? Others have been saying that this is about a gay brother, when it is never said that he doesn't still love Vanessa. And the fact that their sex was not 100% consensual should have been addressed more. There were just a lot of stereotypes which were played into. A few plot holes such as what happened after Izzi's murder? No investigation? No living in constant fear that the police will rock up at your door? No CCTV that would have caught them? None of the characters seemed desperately sad that someone had died. Despite all these issues, I didn't dislike it. There were parts which were dramatic and tense. Also, why do films insist on being filmed in the dark, I know it's atmospheric, but god is it difficult to watch.

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joyhussein
2012/01/27

My brother the devil is a thrilling drama. It captivates what life is like in the streets, what it is like to be a road man and the struggles that males face on the road. One of the unexpected struggles of the film was the fact that Rash is gay. This was very shocking as this type of homosexual culture is not usually expressed within films that involve gang culture as it is often frowned upon. Even within the film Rash's brother Mo is so disappointed to the fact that his brother is gay, he would prefer if his brother was a terrorist. This expresses how in society if you were to be gay it is not excepted. In addition to this their religion doesn't condemn you to be gay as they are Muslim it would be considered haram.

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Errington_92
2012/01/28

My Brother The Devil can be described as an formulaic gritty, realistic crime drama seen in a multitude of films like Boyz In Da Hood, Kidulthood and La Haine to name a few. Yet it does offer a shocking twist and tense atmosphere underlining the characters' realities which were dramatically absorbing.Until My Brother The Devil revealed its twist, it was a formulaic narrative. However there was no faulting its atmospheric direction. My Brother The Devil used still images of gang-life in its opening scene whilst firmly establishing differences between Rashid and Mo, Brothers and main protagonists. Visuals were primarily used as they are an emotive concept, actions speak louder than words. My Brother The Devil did well to establish atmosphere by placing characters (and consequently audiences) in violent situations. The actors' direction in specific scenes was fundamental towards this, not relying on dialogue only. The scenes are left to settle through each actors' instincts forcing audiences to absorb tension. Yet it is the shocking twist within My Brother The Devil whilst it felt questionable at first did fit into Rashid's and Mo's characterisation regarding gang-life's requirement of fierce masculinity. In this regard it was a bold move which intensified My Brother The Devil's atmosphere.Despite the intriguing twist, My Brother The Devil's narrative style did feel cliché. As previously stated the narrative was formulaic to an extent where I was predicted what would follow. Yet the acting in specific scenes are able to absorb audiences into their world. Wherever it was Rashid or Mo having to square up to fierce opposition or experiencing violent situations, the actors involved never overly convey their situation. Thanks to this the actors created a realism shocking audiences into realising the harrowing environment these characters were part of. This directness of My Brother The Devil's realism makes it slightly superior over its clichéd flaws to make it an dramatically absorbing feature.

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davideo-2
2012/01/29

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningRashid (James Floyd) is caught up with street gangs in inner city London, and runs in to a feud with another rival gang when his younger brother Mo (Fady Elsayed) is robbed by them while running an errand for Rashid's crew. But when his best friend is killed in a retaliation attack instigated by Rashid, he is forced to try and come to terms with his life and turn it around, while facing up to his own inner demons. Meanwhile, young Mo is forced to face some harsh rites of passage choices of his own.Just when it seemed like it had been a while, Sally El Hosani comes along with a new gritty British urban drama to shake the genre back up a bit. Little seen but critically hailed, it's lesser budget not holding it back at all, My Brother the Devil is an undeniably impressive but overlong and maybe even slightly over rated offering that is maybe guilty of over ambition in it's scope.Basing it's story at the centre of a bustling immigrant community in the sprawling metropolis of London, the film lifts the rafters on what has probably become a pretty typical, archetypal landscape setting for many parts of the capital, or even the country as a whole. It opens a rough, unpredictable world with danger at every corner and the price of life disturbingly cheap. In this it manages what many other films of it's type have already done, and in an above average way, but it loses it's way in a sea of complex, challenging sub plots that seem to be aiming for higher gasp factor as it goes on. Somehow, the central narrative loses it's structure a bit, while the performances and writing remain spot on. Still, if all the cogs in the engine aren't working, someone'll notice.This is an undeniably ambitious, well acted, daring, effectively shot, depressingly realistic and smartly written piece that doesn't deserve to have all those qualities ignored, but maybe got a little too above it's station and fell down from a spellbinding height. ***

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