I have a fantastic movie recommendation

[liberalpragmatist]

If you get the chance, please see this Danish film: Brodre or Brothers in English. It is one of the best films I have seen in a long time. One of the best acted and most gritty, affecting films in years.

It is directed by Susanne Bier (director of the 2003 film Open Hearts) and stars Ulrich Thomsen (from The Celebration), Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Connie Nielsson (best known to Americans from Gladiator, here in her first role in her native Denmark).

The story concerns two brothers: Michael, an upstanding, honest Major in the Danish army who is sent on a peacekeeping mission to Afghanistan, and Jannik a ne'er-do-well black sheep who has just been released from prison for a botched bank robbery.

After Michael is sent to war, the two brothers essentially grow in opposite directions due to the pains of war. Jannik becomes more responsible, Michael becomes deeply distraught and suffers from post-traumatic stress. At the center of all this is Michael's wife Sarah, played by actress Connie Nielsson in a stunning performance.

The acting is superb. The directing top-notch. The film is shot on a digital home camera in near-minimalist style. There is a tremendous amount of intimacy. The characters truly feel like real people. Moreover, given the consequences of the film, it clearly is a subtle antiwar film, showing the toll of war on all those involved.

I'm not going to give away much more about the plot because I feel it would ruin the experience. Please, if you can, try to see this movie. I cannot praise it enough.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1144988-brothers/about.php

[Droopy]

1. Is the movie in English?

Or do they have sub-titles?

[liberalpragmatist]

4. Mostly Danish

With subtitles. Some English and some Pashto (unsubtitled but translated by the Afghan interpretor standing nearby).

[jobycom]

2. Thanks. I've seen it advertised at an art house here in Austin

Thanks for the recommendation.

[Tempest]

3. Roger Ebert gives it 3.5 stars

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050519/REVIEWS/50510001/1023

I've heard nothing but very good things about the film.

[IChing]

5. It is an excellent film...and I saw it

without subtitles in Denmark in December

The danes are on the forefront of the dogme style of film making
I thought the afghans were portrayed rather one dimensionally, but generally a good film

[liberalpragmatist]

6. Yeah. Well, it was the Taliban

There wasn't really any contact with regular Afghans. So it didn't really bother me b/c the Taliban ARE quite barbaric.

Even so, I'm glad you liked it too. From what I've read, it wasn't strictly "Dogme" featuring a simple musical score, for instance. And some montages at the start of the film and the end. Still, very much out of that same movement from what I've read (I'm not film afficianado and I'm not familiar with the genre - I'm just going by what I read after watching this film).