Brother

In class today we watched the film Brother by Aleksei Balabanov, which I think is the best film we have watched so far. The action and violence is the best ingredient for a great movie. In the beginning of the film, it seemed like he was just looking for trouble, but when he moved to see his brother, trouble came to him. Right from the start we know he is no stranger to violence. He sits next to one of the security guards from the set and asks if he really broke the other guards arm. He had also beat up a few others along with the guards. It just seemed like he had a rough child life and grew up around violence. He sharpened his skills even more by joining the army. He also seemed to be quite "street smart". He knew how to make a lot of little gadgets to help him along his way like the mini shot gun with "improved ammo" and the make shift silencer with a plastic bottle. I think he enjoys the violence. He does whatever his brother asks him to do without any hassle and he seems to enjoy the benefits that these jobs come with. The army seems to be a big part about his background. He seemed hardened by the army even though he never saw action, according to him. Multiple people ask about it through the movie, but we never really get the whole story behind it, just that he worked at HQ. I think there is more behind it than what he says. He is too street smart to have served at the HQ. He is fearless it seems and is looking to do anything to anybody if they mess with him or his family. Even his friends, as we saw with Sveta and her husband that beats her. She later does not want to be with Danila which surprised me. He did a lot for her and throughout the whole movie, she kept telling her husband to not come to the apartment anymore, but in the end stays with him and "dumps" Danila. He also hangs out with a young girl named Kat. He does not seem interested in her as much as Sveta. They both seem to be complete opposites of each other. Kat is young and likes to party and have a good time. Sveta is older and it does not seem to interested in the crazy party life style although we never see that.
Music in the movie was quite catchy! I personally like a good techno song then and now then and this movie didn't disappoint. Music played a big role in the film, but it never seemed to show in his emotions or at least the film never mentioned it. He has to have it in his life as it showed in almost every scene that music was important to him. Every place he went there was music. The club, the apartment when they were waiting to do the hit, and even at the end of the film when he hitchhiked out of town he asked the driver to turn the radio on.
The ending of the film really made Danlia seem like a total mafia member. He saves his brother, takes the brothers money and tell him to go get a job back in Moscow helping with the POLICE! Danila then heads to Moscow almost as he was going to look for more Mobster things to do.
Obviously, we have not seen the type of killing we saw in this film in any others we have watched. I also think that the killings added a different element to it and to me, made it better. Without these killings and the shooting, we don't get the action and mobster effect. And if your going to make a film about the mafia, you have to have hits and killings in them, other wise your just wasting your time!