Review of Two Brothers

Introduction

Two Brothers begins with the meeting of two tigers in the jungle in South-East Asia. Mating in the ruins of a Buddhist temple, two tiger cubs are the result, each with very different personalities. Meanwhile in turn of the century England, tiger hunter and artefact collector Aidan McRory (Guy Pierce) is attempting to sell some of his latest African collection in auction. It doesn`t sell well, and when the following Asian collection brings in far more money, McRory makes a decision that will have far reaching implications.

Within time McRory is leading an expedition to the very area where the tiger family is settled in order to retrieve some of the Buddhist statues that inhabit the temple inhabited by the tigers. After their fathers death, the two young cubs are separated. The timid Kumal is eventually passed to a circus where he is trained to perform under the name of Kumal - The Blood Thirsty Tiger. The fearless Sangha becomes the pet of young boy Raoul (Freddie Highmore), the son of the regional Administrator who wants to build a road through the jungle to attract tourism to the temples. After a regretful incident with the family dog, who had pestered him for so long, Sangha end up in the private zoo of His Excellency, an unspecified member of local Royalty.

The two brothers are destined to meet again, with both McRory and Raoul helplessly entwined in their fates…

Video

The film uses a mix of 35mm and HD Digital Video, the latter to ensure that filming of the animals acting naturally could carry on beyond the point where normal cameras would require reloading and thus miss something that could be included in the final edit. The shots of the tigers are in vivid colour whereas the civilised world shots are more muted, thus creating a nice contrast between natural world and the man-made one.

Audio

A DD 5.1 Surround soundtrack is available but this is hardly the film to showcase the merits of surround sound. It`s effective in it`s own way, very ambient and the dialogue is nice and crisp. What more do you need?

Features

Theatrical Trailer

Call Of The Wild (1 min) - tigers and the director growling, set to music.

Wild About Tigers (35 mins) - documentary narrated by Guy Pierce exploring the history, life and culture of the tiger, culminating in an appeal to help save this rapidly dwindling species.

Baby Tiger Outtakes (20 mins) - a long selection of footage of the baby tigers used at the start of the film, some of which made it into the film. A lot of funny and `aah` moments here…

Tiger Brothers (3.5 mins) - explaining the use of up to 30 tigers during the production of the film

Tiger Trainers (4.5 mins) - examining the use of tiger trainers and how the tigers were persuaded to act in certain shots

Tiger Cam (3.5 mins) - exploring the use of 35mm and HD Digital video during production. In a neat reversal, the tigers were allowed to roam completely free within certain sets whilst the crew were huddled into small and large cages for safety during the filming.

Tiger Tech (3 mins) - explores the use of animatronics for the very few scenes where live tigers could not be used due to safety reasons

Conclusion

Amazingly, in this age of CGI and digital epics from the likes of Pixar, this story using real-life tigers did not do that great at the box office. It seems as if children and possibly adults prefer the ever more realistic effects work than the real thing. This is quite sad, as this film contains some astounding wildlife shots and some of the set pieces with the tigers are quite breathtaking, leaving you wondering just how they managed it.

The overall involvement of the humans in this film is pretty superfluous, aside from McRory and Raoul who are both central to this tale. Jean-Jacques Annaud (Quest For Fire, Enemy At The Gates, Name Of The Rose) has created an epic tale of two brothers separated early in their childhood who fate brings back together in early adulthood. The tigers really feel like the leads in this film and the focus on their eyes helps give the viewer the empathy required to allow us to care about what happens to the duo.

I watched this film with my 7 year old daughter and she loved it, although there were a couple of Lion King-esque moments where she hid her face from me. Probably as well she did, as I wasn`t far behind her. This is a film that has its share of tragedy and comedy as well as adventure. I dare anyone not to be rooting for the two brothers whilst watching this, and also would find it incredulous if anyone was even slightly unimpressed with the footage of the tigers and other supporting wildlife.

Annaud has created an incredible and epic tale that will take some beating.