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.
THEATRICAL RELEASE: MAY 6, 2005 (LIMITED)
DVD Features:
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Dual Single Sided
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound - Danish
Executive Producer
Peter Aalbaek Jensen: PRODUCER\"ZENTROPA"
Story
Anders Thomas Jensen: Screenwriter
Story
Susanne Bier:
Voice
Niels Olsen: Voice, BROTHERS (2005)
Voice
Rebecca Logstrup Saltau: Voice, BROTHERS (2005)
Voice
Sarah Juel Werner: Voice, BROTHERS (2005)
Director of Photography
Morten Soborg:
Review 1:
"Thomsen's quietly simmering performance is BROTHERS' best asset..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.45-46 05/01/2005
Review 2:
"[A] gripping psychological drama....With a fine balance of compassion and hardheadedness."
Source: New York Times
p.E20 05/06/2005
Review 3:
"BROTHERS has an exact sense of emotional truth and a respect for the intricacy of character."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.E10 05/13/2005
Review 4:
"[B]lessed with some of the most heartfelt performances you'll see in any film this year."
Source: Uncut
p.140 06/01/2005
Review 5:
"[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."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.54-56 05/20/2005