Брат

I first discovered the director Aleksei Balabanov through his film Cargo 200. That film, while quite shocking, impressed me with it's unflinching portrayal of corruption and depravity in contemporary Russian society. Brother, which was made a decade earlier, is a bit more mainstream. This is actually my second time to view this film.

In брат, we have a seemingly wet behind the ears Danila (played by the late Sergei Bodrov) being discharged from the military. He quickly gets in trouble as a civilian and ends up heading for the big city in Leningrad, where his successful older brother lives. 

Leningrad is somewhat analogous to the Wild West, in that the sound of gunshots is a regular occurrence. Crime without repurcussion, including murder is common. In the midst of this dark and dreary setting, Danila tries to find his way through the city, befriending a number of troubled characters along the way.

Eventually, when he does meet his brother, he discovers that he is not who his mother thinks he is. This leads to a number of betrayals and ultimately, bloodshed. It was interesting how, as the film developed, Danila transitioned from being inexperienced and needy to becoming someone his brother needed help from. 

Danila emerges as an unlikely hero as a criminal with an uncanny talent of sensing trouble. However, he does follow a moral code of sorts. While the character of Danila is somewhat idealized in these capacities, I still found myself rooting for him. And, perhaps there is more to his former ocupation of "military clerk" than is revealed.

In the last few minutes of the film, we see Danila walking in a crowd of people, which stresses the reality that his criminal lifestyle is by no means an anomaly in this lawless city. 

In Russia, the film was a massive success. The idea behind it was that Balabanov was showing how an individual is able to rise above all of the chaos and uncertainty in post-communist Russia. 

I would recommend this film to others, but only those who are interested in understanding the reality of life during that time period in Russia. While there is more to Russia than matroyshka dolls and vodka, this film is not for the näive.