Brothers (2005)

"A tight, tense, extremely well-acted film.  Richard Roeper, Ebert and Roeper

Editor's Note Connie Nielsen, who has played pivotal roles in such English-language films as GLADIATOR, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, and RUSHMORE, is the powerful and emotional heart of BROTHERS, a moving Danish film set in her home country. Directed by Susanne Bier (who made the Dogme 95 film OPEN HEARTS), BROTHERS tells the story of two very different brothers: Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a drunken loser who has just been released from prison for bank robbery and assault, while Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) is a well-respected army major and family man, with a wife, Sarah (Nielsen), and two kids. But when Michael goes off on a mission to Afghanistan to rescue a captured radar man, his helicopter is shot down and he is assumed to have been killed in action. The news devastates Sarah and her in-laws, while Jannik becomes more reckless before stepping in to help her and the kids build a new life. But as Jannik and Sarah grow close, it is discovered that Michael has survived--and has done something that haunts him and threatens everything and everyone. Bier's film is filled with tender moments as well as bitter, frightening, fast-paced scenes that are hard to forget. Nielsen is a standout as Sarah, who tries to balance love and loss and then love again with a man she's not sure she knows anymore.

	Connie Nielsen
	Nikolaj Lie Kaas
	Sarah Juel Werner
	Ulrich Thomsen
	Anders Thomas Jensen - Writer
	Johan Soderqvist - Original Music By
	Morten Soborg - Cinematographer
	Pernille Bech Christensen, et. al. - Editor
	Peter Aalbaek Jensen, et. al. - Producer
	Peter Garde - Executive Producer
	Susanne Bier - Director
	Susanne Bier - Story By
	Viggo Bentzon - Production Designer

Sight and Sound
"Thomsen's quietly simmering performance is BROTHERS' best asset..." 05/01/2005 p.45-46

New York Times
"[A] gripping psychological drama....With a fine balance of compassion and hardheadedness." 05/06/2005 p.E20

Los Angeles Times
"BROTHERS has an exact sense of emotional truth and a respect for the intricacy of character." 05/13/2005 p.E10

Uncut
"[B]lessed with some of the most heartfelt performances you'll see in any film this year." 06/01/2005 p.140

Entertainment Weekly
"[E]xpressive storytelling, which accomplishes the rare feat of believably incorporating violence in another part of the world into an intimate study of shifting domestic relationships." 05/20/2005 p.54-56

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
...this is the kind of movie that doesn't solve everything at the end -- that observes some situations are capable not of solution but only of accommodation. That's more true to life than the countless movies with neat endings -- happy endings, and even sad ones. In the world, sometimes the problem comes and stays forever, and the question with the hardest answer is, well, OK, how are you going to live with it? - Roger Ebert