Brothers

After a highly principled U.N. peacekeeper with a loving wife and two delightful daughters is declared dead in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, his younger brother—the black sheep of the family—settles down and looks after his sister-in-law and her kids. Of course, the reports of the brother's death turn out to be greatly exaggerated—he was captured by insurgents, kept in brutal captivity, and forced to sacrifice one of his comrades in order to survive. Eventually freed, he's now a changed man: the trauma and guilt make him prone to violent outbursts, and since he's suspicious that his wife and brother have betrayed him, a tragic confrontation appears inevitable. All of this may sound like the stuff of afternoon soap opera, but Danish director Susanne Bier (who brought equal depth to Open Hearts, about a man paralyzed in an auto accident), dramatizes the story with such honesty and intensity that the film transcends the hackneyed material. Made with almost painful realism and a minimum of sentimentality, the harrowing Brothers examines the human propensity for both good and evil in a tale that's effective on a purely personal level while also touching on universal themes. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)