Brothers

Colour, 35 mm
Denmark, 2004, 110 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Michael always had everything going for him: a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik has had a very different lifestyle, one that once landed him in prison. Their father, who openly favours his successful son, can’t even offer Jannik a kind word; the tension between them can be felt beneath the family’s calm surface. Then Michael is stationed in Afghanistan and everything changes - when death touches you nothing can ever be the same again.... "Brothers brings the international conflicts we read about in the newspaper into an everyday context, where they change everything. I find it fascinating how daily lives can suddenly be transformed by more or less random events, and how people react to such radical changes. By depicting the Danish military Brothers has a political dimension, but it’s primarily a love story, a story about the conditions for love in modern life," the director said.

About the director

Susanne Bier (b. 1960, Copenhagen) studied art and design at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and architecture in London. In 1987 she graduated in direction from Copenhagen’s National Film School of Denmark. Her graduation short, De Saliges, took first prize at the film school festival in Munich and was distributed by Channel 4 television throughout Europe. She has shot music videos, shorts and feature films, some of which became domestic successes. Selected filmography: Freud Leaving Home (Freud flyttar femifran, 1990), Family Matters (Det bli’r i familien, 1993), The One and Only (Den eneste ene, 1999 - winner of several Danish film awards). Open Hearts (2002), shot in accordance with the Dogma Manifesto, was screened at many festivals (e.g. in the Horizons section at Karlovy Vary 2003). Brothers will be followed up by Chasing Montana.