Broderskab (Danish) [Brotherhood]

Now that was a complete surprise. A film that you would have not expected to go the way it did. It makes you think, you sometimes feel for the characters but you also feel repulsed by some of the acts they did. The movie was intense, it was gripping and it keeps you hooked throughout. You wanna know what is going to happen next. I was very pleasantly surprised with this film.

Lars has just quit army because he could not get promoted to being a field sergeant. One day when he is hanging out with friends, he meets some people from a new-Nazi group who are all about just having pure white people led by Michael known as Fatty within the group. Everyone and everything else is against the nature. Initially, Lars distances himself from their ideology and methods, but fuelled by defiance against the system in general - and his parents in particular - Lars decides to join the group. Michael for some reason think that Lars has potential even though his right hand man Jimmy does not agree. Soon Lars gets hired as A-member whereas that position should have gone to Patrick, Jimmy's younger brother. Lars moves out of his parents' house and into board chairman Ebbe's remotely situated summer cottage, which Jimmy is in the process of renovating. Despite their initial dislike of each other, the attraction between the two men soon becomes too strong to ignore. Before they realize, they are falling in love for each other while being torn between their emotion and ideology. Lars is still not entirely convinced about the group and when he finds out about their views about gays, he tries to pull out . Jimmy is now in dilemma but before they could make final decision, Patrick finds out about their relationship and informs Michael because of jealousy. They find Lars and beat him up real bad. Jimmy finally decides to leave with lars and go away but it is too late and he gets stabbed. FIlm ends with Jimmy in the hospital. Viewers are left to decide whether he is alive or dead.

The acting by the principal characters was so unbelievably good. Both Lars and Jimmy do so well in their parts. Their performance is nothing short of honest and heart wrenching and the director has utilized their potential. Such movies can easily have a tendency to get boring and draggy but this was different. The film keeps moving between being chilling to being a tender love story at times. There are certain flaws in the film like it is not completely explained why Lars joins the group or why is Michael suddenly favoring Lars so much. Despite these minor flaws you cannot ignore the overall film. The characters are all grey and not simply black or white.

I would have given a higher rating but this is a film that is a great first watch but doesn't really have a repeat value. It still deserves applauds for being different and meaningful. (7.5/10)