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Brothers

Original title: Brødre
  • 20042004
  • RR
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
15,901
1,495
Brothers (2004)
DramaWar
Two brothers must negotiate changing roles and shifting family dynamics when one is sent to war in Afghanistan.Two brothers must negotiate changing roles and shifting family dynamics when one is sent to war in Afghanistan.Two brothers must negotiate changing roles and shifting family dynamics when one is sent to war in Afghanistan.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
15,901
1,495
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Susanne Bier
    • Writers
      • Susanne Bier(story)
      • Anders Thomas Jensen(story)
    • Stars
      • Ulrich Thomsen
      • Nikolaj Lie Kaas
      • Connie Nielsen
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Susanne Bier
    • Writers
      • Susanne Bier(story)
      • Anders Thomas Jensen(story)
    • Stars
      • Ulrich Thomsen
      • Nikolaj Lie Kaas
      • Connie Nielsen
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 47User reviews
    • 85Critic reviews
    • 76Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 13 wins & 21 nominations

    Photos20

    Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Ulrich Thomsen in Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen and Lars Ulrich at an event for Brothers (2004)
    Connie Nielsen and Susanne Bier at an event for Brothers (2004)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ulrich Thomsen
    Ulrich Thomsen
    • Michael
    Nikolaj Lie Kaas
    Nikolaj Lie Kaas
    • Jannik
    Connie Nielsen
    Connie Nielsen
    • Sarah
    Sarah Juel Werner
    • Natalia
    Rebecca Løgstrup
    • Camilla
    • (as Rebecca Løgstrup Soltau)
    Bent Mejding
    • Henning
    Solbjørg Højfeldt
    Solbjørg Højfeldt
    • Else
    Niels Olsen
    • Allentoft
    Paw Henriksen
    Paw Henriksen
    • Niels Peter
    Lars Hjortshøj
    • Preben 2
    Lars Ranthe
    • Preben 1
    André Babikian
    • Nadeem
    Lene Maria Christensen
    Lene Maria Christensen
    • J. Solvej
    Laura Bro
    Laura Bro
    • Ditte
    Henrik Koefoed
    • Bartender
    Tom Mannion
    • Miles
    Kae Bahar
    • Makmuhd
    • (as Karzan Sherabayani)
    Waleed Elgadi
    Waleed Elgadi
    • Samial-Tariq, Afghanistan
    • (as William El-Gardi)
    • Director
      • Susanne Bier
    • Writers
      • Susanne Bier(story)
      • Anders Thomas Jensen(story)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Along with Kongekabale (2004), this was the most successful and best reviewed Danish film of the year in its native country. However, neither of these two films was submitted by Denmark to the Oscars in the Foreign Language Film category. The Danish jury decided to send a documentary film, The Five Obstructions (2003), which had only been attended by 12,532 people in Danish theaters. This story made headlines, and Danish film producers officially stated that they would force the jury to pick Brothers (2004) or "Kongekabale" instead. The jury, however, did not change their minds, and "De fem benspænd" was sent to the Oscars. It was not among the eventual nominees. "Brødre" later won several awards across the world, including at the Sundance Film Festival, and opened to stellar reviews in the US. The jury later admitted that they possibly chose the wrong film to send to the Oscars that year.
    • Goofs
      During the argument in the girls' room before the funeral, the time on the alarm clock in the background jumps ahead by several minutes between shots.
    • Quotes

      Michael: I will always love you. That is the only truth that remains. Life is neither right nor wrong, good or bad. But I love you. That's all I know.

    • Connections
      Featured in Dansk films bedste: Skurke, Dialekter og Forbudt kærlighed (2022)

    User reviews47

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    A Danish Take on the Usual Post- War PTS Syndrome, Updated
    "Brothers (Brødre)" is a Danish "Coming Home" crossed with "Deer Hunter" and the novels of Tim O'Brien with the added frisson of Cain vs. Abel, as updated to the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.

    While I can understand how this is a new experience for Danes, it could have more impact for someone who has never seen a post-Viet Nam War movie. Otherwise it's like a fairly predictable cable TV movie about post traumatic stress syndrome on a channel that allows four letter words, including as has been done in British television films about returning peacekeepers from the Balkans.

    The excellent acting rose above the stereotypes to make it very moving anyway, including very natural child actors who were very un-Dakota Fanning-like.

    Nikolaj Lie Kaas is particularly charismatic on screen, even more than he was in "Reconstruction," and should now be in the international pantheon of rugged male stars who play "bad boys" really well, emphasized by portraying brunettes in the land of the blonds. So I give director/co-writer Susanne Bier extra credit for not fulfilling the most obvious direction of the plot, but instead letting tension hang in the air, which is more powerful.

    Connie Nielsen, using her native language, has warm and charged chemistry with both her co-stars, but is pretty much just the beautiful wife/mother.

    Unfortunately, the distributors didn't spring for American English subtitles so you have to interpret Brit slang as if you're watching BBC America. (I did learn in one instance that the F word sounds pretty much the same in Danish as in English but the subtitles didn't match that sound again so I was wondering what other curse words were being replaced with the fundamental English one.) Some times the translation is just plain confusing; for example, the word "assaulted" seems to have a different connotation than something in the Danish dialog, as a plot point gets confused for a subtitle reader. The translation is particularly a problem during a critical scene where the older girl has an outburst, as it's quizzical how scatological her terms were in Danish as opposed to the English choices to understand how incendiary the scene really is.

    The Afghans are uniformly shown with the same level of subtlety as North Vietnamese, let alone Nazis, in prisoner-of-war movies. It is ironically interesting that English is now the lingua franca between freedom fighters everywhere.

    The cinematography is beautifully color saturated, but is grainy; perhaps it's blown up from video.
    helpful•20
    16
    • noralee
    • May 31, 2005

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 27, 2004 (Denmark)
    • Countries of origin
      • Denmark
      • United Kingdom
      • Sweden
      • Norway
    • Official sites
      • IFC Films
      • Official Site (Denmark)
    • Language
      • Danish
    • Also known as
      • 變奏曲
    • Filming locations
      • Almería, Andalucía, Spain
    • Production companies
      • Two Brothers Ltd.
      • Fjellape Film AS
      • Memfis Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $389,220
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $8,161
      • May 8, 2005
    • Gross worldwide
      • $489,706
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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