'Brothers' change roles, personalities

The transforming power of love and war is at the heart of a powerful Danish film, Brothers, a contemporary drama set against the conflict in Afghanistan.

IFC Films 'Brothers' B+ The verdict: War transforms two brothers in this emotionally turbulent Dogme film. Director: Susanne Bier Starring: Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen Run time: 110 minutes Release date: May 6, 2005 Rating: R for violence, language and brief nudity. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

It is a study in contrasts, as two brothers who could not be less alike, continue on their divergent paths but eventually change personalities after older, more mature brother Michael's helicopter is shot down and he becomes a prisoner of war.

Director and co-writer Susanne Bier may be making a movie about siblings, but it is Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) who is the emotional center. Her world is unalterably changed when military officers arrive to report — erroneously — that her husband has died, as she registers the devastation while trying to present a brave front to her daughters. Later, as Michael's ex-felon black sheep brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas of Bier's Open Hearts) sobers up and tries to fill the family void left by Michael, Nielsen's sexual tension is palpable.

Eventually, Michael (Ulrich Thomsen, The Inheritance) returns home, transformed by his brutal captivity, unable to assume his former role in the family.

This sounds overly melodramatic, but Bier mutes that tendency expertly, in one of the most satisfying films ever to emerge from the rigid school of Denmark's Dogme 95 movement.