Movie review: Brothers (2005)
By Mark Czerniec
August 18, 2006 8:55 AM

Monday night we watched Brothers, a Danish film directed and co-written by Susanne Bier. The title refers to two of the main characters. One of the men (Ulrich Thomsen as Michael) is a straight-laced, married soldier with two little daughters. The other (Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Jannik) is a drunk driving ne'er-do-well. The star of the movie, though, is really Connie Nielsen, who plays Sarah, the soldier's wife. Shortly after the movie opens, her husband is sent to join the coalition forces in Afghanistan.

By itself, the script for this film is not so remarkable. The plot twists could have been lifted out of any soap opera, and the dialogue (at least in the English subtitles) is plain and ordinary. Yet Brothers is a powerful hour and 53 minutes thanks to the directing and the performances.

First of all, the movie has a very comfortable atmosphere. The lighting seems natural, the interiors look like real homes, the pacing is relaxed, and the interactions feel genuine. The two young girls, Sarah Juel Werner as the older and darker Natalia and Rebecca Løgstrup as Camilla, are surprisingly good actresses who add a great deal to their scenes. They laugh with abandon while playing with their father, and reflect true panic during the story's dark passages. It's rare for kids to act this freely.

The overall cozy ambience is an effective backdrop which brings this film's brutal emotional jolts and violence out into full relief. The story puts its characters in the awful position of having to live with the unacceptable and the broken, and to somehow carry on, mend, and rebuild.

As the wife and mother, Connie Nielsen gives a fine performance, and her natural beauty warms the whole picture. She plays Sarah with a sensible, firm serenity that anchors her family, yet she's also vulnerable and uncertain when faced with some big decisions, and palpably terrified when chaos explodes. When she gives an ultimatum at the end of the movie, she delivers it as simply as possible and it rings perfectly true.

While the same cannot be said for all of Brothers, it is definitely among the better movies I have seen in a while. I'm rating it 4 out of 5 stars at Netflix, but only because their system does not accept a 4.5. I would like to see more of Susanne Bier's work, and Connie Nielsen's as well.