Brothers Was the Best Film I Saw in 2005; Will the American Remake Be as Powerful?

Once upon a time in Denmark, there was a good brother and a bad brother.

When we meet them, Jannik, the bad brother, is just getting out of prison -- he's such a screwup he failed even at bank robbery.

Michael, the good brother, has a beautiful wife, two perfect daughters and a purpose: He's an Army officer about to go to Afghanistan to direct a reconstruction program.

And the good brother leaves, and, right off, his helicopter is shot down in Afghanistan, and an Army representative has the unhappy duty of knocking on the door of his home and delivering the ultimate bad news to his wife.

The grieving is intense. And ugly. The father of the brothers stands six inches from the face of his bad son and announces, "Now I have nothing."

I would crumble. The bad son rallies. There's a void that needs to be filling, and he steps up. Plays with the little girls. Builds new kitchen cabinets. Consoles the wife. The bad brother becomes a better brother.

And then the dead brother returns home -- alive, damaged and dangerous.

Mayhem follows.

Brothers was easily the most powerful film I saw in 2005. It was directed by Susanne Bier, who directed the most powerful film I saw in 2007, After the Wedding. If you saw them back to back, you'd know they were by the same filmmaker -- I can't think of another director who chooses such nakedly emotional stories and then delivers every big emotional moment they contain -- with hand-held cameras, at close range -- with such total fearlessness.

The result: movies that matter. Are they pleasant to watch? Not in the way you're used to. They don't go out of their way to deliver happy endings. There's no stirring, manipulative soundtrack to make the big moments familiar. But these movies do something that most films don't -- they have you on the edge of your seat, and for more than a few minutes during a big action scene.

These movies work precisely because they're so tough to watch -- in the way, that is, that real life can be tough. The trouble the characters are in, it's real trouble, not movie trouble. A soldier brings the war home. Happens every day. And we imagine what that's like for his wife, their kids, friends and family -- but we have no clue. Because every veteran is different. And, of course, because the wars we fight now are so different from our lives at home that we have no idea what happens there.

Except in Brothers. Something terrible happens in Afghanistan, and we see it. And it is so bad your hand goes to your face in horror and sadness. The good brother can never forget it. Neither will you.

It takes great acting to make a movie like this play out as if it's reality TV -- as if the director somehow gained the rights to the story of a family unraveling and a new family emerging. Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas aren't actors known to us; they should be. And Connie Nielsen as the wife is just sensational; it's impossible to believe she usually appears in Hollywood blockbusters.

Brothers has been remade for an American audience, and will open in early December. It is directed by Jim Sheridan, who did such great work on In America. From the trailer, it looks promising:

Or rather, it looks great -- until you see a trailer for Bier's version:

No knock on the American remake, but I'd get my hands on a DVD of Bier's movie first. It will hurt you to watch it. You may feel, after, that your body has been beaten. Your nerves will be frayed. You will weep, and you may weep more when you leave the theater. But I promise you: It's all good. Indeed, it's the best.

[Cross-posted from HeadButler.com]

 

Comments

[adnil3103]

Just read this review: “I loved the original and it took me about 20 minutes to get past it but it becomes a whole different movie. The performances are just great, Oscar-caliber in my opinion.”
Entertainment Tonight, Sharlette Hambrick

I do think this movie has a lot of potential. Worth checking out for sure

[jaycg9]

After seeing In America, I'm confident in Jim Sheridan's ability to convey grief, anger and other intense emotions in a compelling story with interesting, well-developed characters--I'm sure his version will be a good movie. Until, of course, you compare it to the original. The problem will not be how much better or worse either version is, but that there was a need to remake another film (and not even an OLD movie--the original was 2005!). Sheridan's talents would be much better spent on an original story. Let genuine artists and story tellers like Sheridan make something new that's never seen before. Let the Michael Bays make films based on toys and cartoons.

[ggirl]

The 2005 version has stayed with me since the day I saw it. Some movies cannot be remade, but I will leave that to the critics.

[mamacat]

Thanks for the heads up. I missed the Danish film, but will put it on my Netflix list, thanks to you.

Isn't that usually the case? We see an American movie, and think, "Hey, that's pretty good!" Then we see the foreign original, and we wonder what we ever saw in the American remake. Oh well.
For instance, my family loved the Yul Brynner movie about the Seven Cowboys, until we saw the Japanese original, Seven Samurai. After watching Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, I am ashamed to have ever liked Seven Cowboys, or whatever it was titled.

[mockingbird1]

Uncanny. I just watched this. Couldn't shake it for days. Always in sync somehow with Kornbluth. Nonetheless, it will be good to see Toby bite into something other than a comic book hero.

[JacqueItch]

"Brothers" was good, but not that good.

There are many foreign films that are strong fare with many of them coming from the MidEast and not getting the publicity in America they deserve in an America still militarily occupational.

Try "Baran" by Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi. . . . . . Lovely, powerful film.

[UpperWest]

Thanks for this. The Danish Broder was sensational. Not just the best of '05, but maybe of the '00s. You walk out of the theater literally shaking.

And the acting was perfect. Even the initial barracks scene where the "good" brother is shown commanding his troops is incredible -- their respect for his compassionate authority is completely convincing -- and makes the subsequent transformation all the more convincing and heartbreaking. And Connie Nielsen is also fantastic, as is the "bad" brother.

Biers is the equal of the early ("Breaking the Waves") von Trier.

[muhair]

Good to know when you utterly disagree with a critic's opinion... I'll be checking Kornbluth's future reviews to know what to avoid like the plague. I found both of Bier's movies to be shockingly bad... rife with implausibilities and the most cringe-making melodrama. Just kind of grimly sodden....

[fruitedplain]

good to know when you utterly disagree with a critic's critic... Kornbluth and I must be Brothers; this is one of the best films made in decades, made for and by adults.

[UpperWest]

Thanks for that. Brothers was shattering -- no other word for it. The best film since Vincent Ward's "The Navigator."

[mia8485]

The American version does not look bad. But you're so right, there's just a little something more about Susanne Bier and Danish actors.

Besides the two Bier movies you mention, her "Open Hearts" (with "After the Wedding"'s Mads MIkkelsen and "Brothers"'s Nikolaj Lie Kaas), is just as emotional, intense, real, difficult to watch, and more difficult to get out of your mind. Three of my most favorite movies.