Brothers

Name: Brothers
Genre: Drama, War
Released: May 6, 2005
Duration: 117 min
Rating: 76
Cast: Connie Nielsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Ulrich Thomsen

2005

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 39 Ratings

See All

8.4

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8.4	Your Score
8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 39 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Brothers

Now Playing: Brothers

Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: May 6, 2005 | R

Starring: Connie Nielsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Ulrich Thomsen

Summary: The lives of two very different brothers become simultaneously intertwined and thrust apart in this intense and powerful drama. (IFC Films)

Director: Susanne Bier

Genre(s): Drama, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 117 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

David Sterritt

A triumph of psychological drama, owing as much to Ms. Bier's sensitive style as to Anders Thomas Jensen's smart screenplay, based on Bier's own story idea. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

We do live in a fraught world of interconnections, Bier makes clear, and what happens far away matters, in unexpected ways, close to home. Read full review

David Ansen

Gripping from start to finish. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

The end result was that the performances reached a remarkable level of intimacy and intensity. Read full review

Robert K. Elder

While the film's strength lies in an ensemble effort, it's really Sarah and Jannik who provide the film with its most compelling characters, its momentum and, ultimately, its heart. Read full review

Wesley Morris

Piercingly co-written and directed by Susanne Bier, the movie dramatizes one man's collapse and the other's surprising maturation. Read full review

Ella Taylor

Bier's portrayal of the brothers' interplay holds few surprises, and the exploitation of the war between East and West is vulgar, contrived and borderline racist. Read full review

SEE ALL 30 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Dave

Feb 7, 2006

Great film, gives a good view of the effects of war on a family.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

BryanG.

Feb 23, 2006

Subtle differences in familiar plot lines make the reality of emotion stand out as the crowning execution in this film. It is wonderfully atypical.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

DawnJ.

Mar 4, 2006

The strengths of the movie lie in its unflinching portrayal of the very personal complexities of war. Two families are impacted-Michael's own wife and daughters and the wife and son of Niels Peter, a townsman and fellow soldier who shares his prison cave. It is in the comparison of The strengths of the movie lie in its unflinching portrayal of the very personal complexities of war. Two families are impacted-Michael's own wife and daughters and the wife and son of Niels Peter, a townsman and fellow soldier who shares his prison cave. It is in the comparison of these two families in which the film's conflict lies. We get a brief snapshot of Neils Peter's family when Michael visits her upon his return. The cropping is close; the camera closes in on a spare white kitchen table. Niels Peter's wife Ditte sit at the table, alone in her grief and longing. The film spends much more time on Sophia's family of two roustabout girls and the constantly present brother Jannik. The scope is expansive, dynamic. The range of laughter and tears is photographed in a medley of shots against a background of colors, textures, hammers, saws, and bustle. Clearly, progress is being made, particularly before Michael's return. There is no sugar coating of post-trauma life, no sentimentalized view of family. The performances are uniformly strong, the photography intense, the music good. The story leaves us with questions: Why do Jannik and Sophia not consummate their desire? Why do the brothers' parents drop out of the story once the elder son has returned? The complexities of the film provoke questions we want to see answered. Even though the film presents nothing startlingly new about PTSD, it at least offers no easy answers and is always absorbing to watch.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Stephen

May 13, 2006

Pretty fair effort all round from Bier, well cast and acted, filmed with vigour straight from the Danish Dogme Director

0 of 0 users found this helpful

SEE ALL 4 REVIEWS