Why is it that instead of appreciating a foreign movie for what it is and the story is has to tell, we have to remake it for American audiences? That is exactly what Brothers is. I was actually so surprised at how it wasn’t even a retelling, or a conversion of the same story. No, this is basically a scene for scene duplication with American actors. The only difference it that we made it the most straightforward and boring duplication ever. At least the Swedes tried to give it some style and emotion. I am not saying that movies should never be remade, but what is the point if you aren’t going to try to interpret or improve? If you can’t do either of those things, there is no point in making it. Oh wait, yes there, money. Studios greed wins out every time. Oh well.
This is actually a very interesting story of a soldier who leaves his family to fight in Afghanistan but gets shot down and reported dead. His irresponsible brother, recently released from jail feels the responsibility to step up and take care of the family now. When the soldier is released after being a prisoner of war and returns to his family nothing is the same. There are layers, complexities, and truths to this story. But, I would say, see the original.
I don’t usually hate movies. I am always excited when you find a “good” movie on Netflix. You know, a real movie that you have actually heard of before. Not only heard of, but has Oscar nominations so you really actually heard about it. I remember there being so much buzz about 21 Grams when it was released. Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro were nominated for Oscars for this movie. I mean, that should provide some hope for a good movie right? No. I hated 21 Grams. I thought that it was pretentious. It was trying to be so clever in its story telling by not being cronological, which does work for lots of movies, but this movie took it to a whole new level of “out of sequence”. It was just pointless to me. It takes real craftsmanship and skill to convey a compelling story out of order and I’ve seen it done well countless times. It seemed lazy to me to just make it really out of order to try and set it apart from all those other movies. I didn’t like the story. I didn’t like any of the characters. I absolutely hated the music. It really was disappointing because I had high expectations for this movie. Don’t watch it. It will make you hate it.
In the Showdown, Brothers wins (and 21 Grams gets stomped in the face)
