Brotherhood (2009)

Why so much hype?

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Admirable film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Ah, the magic and confusing explosive mixture of machismo and sexuality!!! There is no other institution with such discomfort at the mention of homosexuality, than the military. It certainly makes a lot of sense. If your purpose is spilling of the blood, what do you do with arousal and men loving ? Well, the skinheads are based on the same false patriotic and quasi-military principals. Shaved heads, extremely tight pants, loud music, cheap beer, and almost exclusively male company.No surprise than, that Lars and Jimmy hit it off so well nor that it ended so badly. Nothing filthier than moronic notions of purity, racial or sexual. The nature of humankind is exactly the lack of purity and aching imperfection of us all. Whenever you try to take that away, you destroy the essence of our existence.where do you go after that?

I never wrote a review before,but this movie demands it.This is one of those rare movies that had a truly stunning effect on me and i couldn't get it out of my head for days.What makes this movie an excellent one is the brilliant performance of the two lead actors, and the ability of the director to depict such a sensitive subject with true artistry, without making it seem exaggerated in any way. The director manages to illustrate the highly unusual love story that makes the central theme of the movie with much tenderness, although we are talking about the relationship of two men coming from a violent and cruel environment. The two protagonists, Jimmy and Lars meet when the latter joins a neo-nazi group,of which Jimmy has been and old member,pretty high in the hierarchy. When Jimmy unwillingly becomes Lars' tutor, the two begin to form a bond that slowly develops into love and eventually turns into a passionate love affair.The chemistry of the two actors is amazing, making their scenes, especially the intimate ones, look very natural and believable. Added to this is their subtle body language, which in many cases becomes a substitute for dialog, managing to express much more than words. Despite the numerous tender moments, this is far from being an idyllic romance. The whole atmosphere of the movie is quite tensioned, which I actually liked, because it was obvious that their illicit relationship sooner or later will be discovered, and the members of the "Arian Brotherhood" won't be exactly thrilled about it.Although basically a love story, this movie is about so much more. The exceptional directing skills of Nicolo Donato managed to make it also into a story about hypocrisy, betrayal,revenge, and also a meditation over the multiple meaning of the term "brotherhood": we have the brotherhood between the members of the neo-nazi group, who betrayed one of them without hesitation when he broke the rules,also betraying them in his own way;we also have the literal brotherhood of Patrick and Jimmy: while Jimmy hesitates between his "brotherly" obligations as a member of the neo-nazi group and sibling of Patrick, and his lover, Patrick also has his own little drama, being torn between the option of betraying his brother for the sake of the group, or keeping his mouth shut for the sake of his brother. We can also consider a sexual "brotherhood" between the two protagonists, who eventually has given up on everything for each other. As we expect, their romance ends with tragedy, but not all hope is crushed, as we are being left with a somehow optimistic view,given by Patrick's last words.

This is a very strong movie in many respects. It has a compelling and very strong story to tell, concerning subjects of great importance, and in many ways, as the movie shows, very contradictory. It has at least four very strong performances by both of the two leading characters (David Dencik and Thure Lindhardt) and some of the supporting characters (especially Nicolas Bro and Morten Holst). It contains some very strong but also very different situations of on one hand very strong violence and on the other hand strong love and passion. One of the biggest strengths of this movie is, imo that a lot of things are never said, but only hinted at or shown by facial expressions, gestures or in some cases simply silence. Those elements added makes it a movie worth watching - if you have the stomach for it! I for one must say that the last 15 minutes of the movie left me with a very cold and very unpleasant feeling, that I have not yet been able to shake completely off two days later!

I found this movie to be absolutely stunning in terms of direction and acting. The two lead actors were absolutely great and believable in their performances. The director was great at capturing moments of erotic tension and tenderness between the two leads. In terms of plot and story-writing there are certainly some flaws that could have been better worked out, but I really appreciated the way the theme was approached and developed. The neo nazi ideology was certainly one of the main themes but the director and the writers weren't too judgmental and they let the characters shine regardless of the reasons that brought them to be a part of such a violent and racist community. I certainly advice to watch it, cause it gives a good depiction of a "different" homosexual relationship not framable in the usual stereotypes of gay love. Good job!