My Movie Review on Two Brothers · 10:00pm Jul 25th, 2021
Greetings, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Two Brothers”.
Here's the rundown of this animal-centered tale:
Kumal and Sangha are two Indochinese tiger cubs who were born in the same litter, and they have been living peacefully with their parents in an ancient temple for years.
However, when humans arrive in the tiger family's territory, Kumal and Sangha are each captured after being separated by their parents. Taken out of the wild, the two brothers are forced to live in a world where humans reign supreme and tigers are no longer king of the jungle.
As with a great many other movies, "Two Brothers" was one that I had been wanting to make a review of for a long time. I had a post made in my blog specifically to showcase the review, but I had to put it aside in favor of analyzing other things.
The time I frequently planned on making this review was in April, mainly since "Two Brothers" is an animal-centered tale. But, when I realized that I wanted to analyze this film sooner than I thought, I decided to go ahead and do so. The movie as a whole was something I frequently watched as a child, so I wasn't a stranger to it.
After seeing this movie again recently, I'm proud to say that "Two Brothers" was as awesome as I remembered it being.
For instance, the direction and story by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and the screenplay by him and Alain Godard, were amazing with a capital ‘A’!
Among the many reasons for why were that Annaud created one of the most emotionally-invested movies I ever watched. Every step of the way, my soul got tugged whenever a tragedy came into the lives of both Sangha and Kumal, which made me go on the edge of my seat and hope that things would get better for them at some point. There were also elements and moments in the story that were heartwarming in the best way, such as the bond between Sangha and Kumal and their eventual reunion, and the growing friendships between Sangha and Raoul and Kumal and Aidan McRory. Plus, despite the movie not being a comedy, “Two Brothers” has lots of genuinely witty and humorous moments that were hilarious to watch. They helped lighten the mode too. As a story that displays Kumal and Sangha’s life and times among humans, the concept tied together beautifully.
Another thing I enjoyed was that in the process of raising awareness as to how much the actions of humans can affect tigers, Annaud didn’t go so far as to demonize humanity as a whole. He showed that there are people in the world who are cruel and greedy, of course. But, he also showed that there are people who are kind-hearted and just, some even changing themselves to improve from the horrible things they did, most notably Aidan McRory.
The themes and morals the movie had about how important it is to respect and care for the creatures we share the world with rather than the opposite were both very meaningful and well-executed, if I may add. The best part is that the messages are genuinely the kind that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, would want us to take to heart. As God’s children, we are called to be the caretakers of the rest of his creation and not the oppressors. If we’re not careful in how we treat our planet and the life it holds, the results would be catastrophic. I personally can never imagine a world without tigers, I’ll tell you guys that.
The performances of the cast, characters, and character development were likewise fantastic.
I really can’t lie, the focus on Kumal and Sangha grappled my interest hook, line, and sinker even as a guy who saw this movie many times before. A contributing factor to it all is that both characters were played by actual tigers instead of being created with visual effects. In every way, it gave their focus a realism. The fact that the tigers showcased astounding emotion and personality while on the screen was incredible, and as the movie progressed Kumal and Sangha had growth that helped them be instantly three-dimensional. All of this is pretty much the same with every other tiger featured in this film.
The human cast members and characters were brilliant as well.
Every performer onboard was not only giving their all but appeared to be having all-the-fun in the world. Any piece of dialogue the human characters had, the performers projected with flavor; they played their parts with fantastic personality and emotion too, helping their characters be far from mere stick figures. The characters themselves weren’t without development either.
Out of all the human performers, it was Guy Pearce and Freddie Highmore that I thought gave the best portrayals. The characters of Aidan McRory and Raoul Normandin were likewise the human characters whom I thought developed the most throughout the film. Plus, Oanh Nguyen made amazing use of his screen-time as His Excellency, and Jean-Claude Dreyfuss not only played the part of Administrator Eugene Normandin with great personality but with a fun sense of humor too.
Fun fact about Guy Pearce, really. “Two Brothers” was the very first movie I had seen to be starring him, and ever since then I saw more movies with him than I could anticipate. He’s pretty much one of my favorite actors, that’s for sure.
Finally, the music by Stephen Warbeck was magnificent.
With this movie being the only one I’ve seen to be composed by Warbeck, I really must say that he certainly knew how to make an impression. His score gorgeously reflected the Asian landscape and settings, and the way his music captured the tone of the story and emotions of the characters was like it was all created from his very soul. I’m surprised he wasn’t given more opportunities to increase his repertoire outside of French films, really.
In conclusion, “Two Brothers” is a masterpiece in every way. It’s not only perfect for encouraging tiger conservation, but it has all the qualifications to make it worthwhile. In my opinion, it’s also one of the best non-talking animal-centered tales around.
So, I rate “Two Brothers” a solid five out of five stars.
Before I conclude this post, I’d like to point out that there are two versions of this movie: The PG theatrical cut that was distributed by Universal Pictures worldwide and is available on home video and streaming, and an R-rated director’s cut distributed by Pathe Entertainment in Europe and is only available on YouTube and 123Movies.net.
For what it’s worth, I recommend the theatrical cut more. Unlike the other version, it’s accessible for all ages and works brilliantly regardless of whatever scenes were cut, reshot, or edited.
I remember watching Two Brothers as a kid and loving it.
Unfortunately, tigers have become extinct in Cambodia, the country the movie takes place in, and now Indochinese tigers exist only in Thailand and Myanmar I believe. Luckily Thailand is starting to turn things around in conserving tigers.
Outside of that, population increases have been recorded in India, China, Russia, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sumatra (in one park).
I do think there are plans on reintroducing tigers in Cambodia, and tigers will be reintroduced into Kazakhstan as well. Although, I think it's planned for Bengal Tigers to be placed into Cambodia despite Indochinese Tigers still being in existence, but that might be due to political reasons. Foolish since wildlife conservation should not be political.
What I really love about the movie is that the tigers are the good guys instead of the villains. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like most media makes them into the bad guys.
As one who's seen and enjoyed this film, I also give it a wonderful 5 out of 5 stars!
Funny things is that I have this movie but haven't seen it in a long time