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Dir. David MacDonald
UK
A young woman (Patricia Roc) is
sent to a family, consisting of a father and two sons, to be their maid and
housekeeper, only for the rivalry with another clan and the older brother’s (Duncan Macrae) obsession with her to
completely effect the lives of everyone involved. Set in Scotland in 1900, it
evokes the fog covered hills of the land immenselt, a closed-in community
depicted rich in culture and adding layers to the film; it is unfortunate the
print the UK DVD distributor Park Circus
used suggests that a less-than-pristine version of this British film is all
that is left. Sadly the film’s narrative – which includes clan rivalries, the
bootlegging of whiskey, and strained relationships of brotherly and romantic
love – feels less than fully formed in less than ninety minutes and becomes stale
melodrama.
The Brothers has a lot to potentially like, but there is aspects,
that appear in British cinema, which undermine its quality. It has a charm, a
tone of down-to-earth bluntness (and vulgarity) which is a great virtue of my
country’s cinema. The unique touches of the setting, the use of Gaelic (?)
words in the characters’ speak, and how the hatred between two clans is
officially settled through a ritualistic act of insulting the other family as
poetically damning as possible, before going to a challenge involving rowing
boats, adds character that gives the film personality beyond a narrative. That also
includes a bizarre but gruesome practice by the characters involving rope and a
single silver fish. Sadly, as is a great problem with British cinema, is that
it feels stilted especially in the narrative and acting at times. With a deep
history to work from, a nationalistic streak of matter of factness (and black
humour) and a visual beauty to our isles’ landscape that shine in great films,
the narrative itself doesn’t life up the weight of these qualities as well as
it should, and for the great acting in the film there are also some that feel
lacking in dramatic weight and somewhat cold consider the drama of the story. This
sounds like a cruel view of The Brothers,
but when a film like it is merely alright, ok, not great, this does come to
mind and nags at it.
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