Brother

I just want to start off by saying, wow. This movie was very Hollywood. It really entertained me well and I enjoyed it very much. Despite all the action and suspense in the film it still contained parts that I thought were placed there to reflect the restlessness of Russia at this time. The name brother is there to suggest and imply the unity between the citizens of the country and the ties of family. But that feeling is obviously gone, as Danila tells random people who call him brother that they are not brothers, and then in the end his actual brother is the man behind the plot to kill him.

I thought the two women in this film were particularly interesting also. Cat, the sly and often deceptive, but at the same time honest, and Sveta, the married woman who seems soft and level headed, but more tragically flawed than any one else. I thought Cat was particularly interesting because it seemed like all she wanted to do was get high and party, but it seemed that really she was just looking for one night to be happy, and she was just trying to escape something. But then again everyone in the film was trying to just escape themselves, maybe for just one night.

Danila runs from everything by listening to music and being introspective, which seems to ultimately save him. Sveta runs from her life by getting caught up in Danila, maybe she thought he could save her from her husband, but in the end she still chooses the man who would hit her rather than the man who kills to preserve himself. Even Nemets seems to play a role that suggests that he’s running from something by living in the woods.

All in all I think the message of this film was that the brotherhood and unity that was once the corner stone of Russia is long gone and has now been replaced by an emptiness that people are trying constantly to fill, leaving the country in a level of distress, but only on the personal level.