My Brother: The Devil
Genre: Social realism (sub-genre of Drama)
Themes: Relationships, crime, homosexuality, religion, death, poverty, family
Short synopsis: A Muslim family has moved to the UK and one of the son's, Rasheed (Rash) has been selling drugs and using the money to help his family. Once his friend is stabbed, he wants out of the streets but then the gang he previously was a part of targets his little brother. Rasheed gets a new job and starts a gay relationship with his boss. His little brother starts to resent him and becomes part of the gang. What follows is Rasheed doing one last job for the gang so that they'll leave him and his family alone which ends up with his little brother being hospitalized.
Cinematography: My Brother: The Devil includes many beautiful shots that are there simply to look beautiful and shots that are there to intensify the scene and use metaphorical imagery to foreshadow and represent certain themes in the movie. For example the close ups always showed very raw emotion and the focus of the scene was always in the correct place. Like at the end when Rasheed was holding the helmet and hid it behind his leg from his parents. The shot of just that helmet said all that it needed to. 8/10
Performance: Brilliant performance especially from such a young cast. The casting choices were also very well done. I never once found myself questioning the casting choices, every actor looked like the role they were meant for. Especially considering that the main characters were, for the most part, Arab and so the casting choices showed this. Often the case with films though is the casting choices do not reflect the heritage or race of the characters, for example, being set in Egypt but the majority of the actor's are white. 7/10
Mise-en-scene: My personal favourite part of the film. Everything on screen had a purpose at all times, especially the costumes. The change in Mo's clothing from bright at the beginning to darker as he started becoming more and more lost to the streets was a very nice touch and showed Mo's slow descent. We also see the opposite happen in Rasheed as he slowly starts becoming less and less involved with these gangs. Or the beautifully subtle metaphors. For example the scene where Izzi is stabbed. First, the dog is stabbed and is left bleeding out in the street. Everyone is stunned looking at the dying animal that's been dubbed "Man's best friend". Seconds later the owner of the dog stabs Izzi in his chest and leaves him bleeding out in the street in a similar fashion to the dog. Considering that Izzi is also Rasheed's best friend this was a beautiful metaphor. 10/10
Sound: None of the sound really stood out to me. I actually found some of the time it didn't fit the scene. For example when Mo was sitting in the tree with his knife. Despite this being a big point of tension and foreshadowing of danger ahead, the music was calming the entire time. Not only did it not reflect Mo's thoughts at the time, since he was obviously thinking about using a knife on someone, but it contradicted what the scene represented. 4/10
Lighting: The lighting was used as a metaphor throughout most of the film for money. This is because when Rasheed was on the streets selling drugs, he put money in his mother's wallet for the electricity. However when he stops selling drugs and Mo starts replacing him, the lights are off more and more often in their home. This shows that the family are struggling for money more and more and also Mo's state of mind is becoming darker and darker. 7/10
Themes: Relationships, crime, homosexuality, religion, death, poverty, family
Short synopsis: A Muslim family has moved to the UK and one of the son's, Rasheed (Rash) has been selling drugs and using the money to help his family. Once his friend is stabbed, he wants out of the streets but then the gang he previously was a part of targets his little brother. Rasheed gets a new job and starts a gay relationship with his boss. His little brother starts to resent him and becomes part of the gang. What follows is Rasheed doing one last job for the gang so that they'll leave him and his family alone which ends up with his little brother being hospitalized.
Cinematography: My Brother: The Devil includes many beautiful shots that are there simply to look beautiful and shots that are there to intensify the scene and use metaphorical imagery to foreshadow and represent certain themes in the movie. For example the close ups always showed very raw emotion and the focus of the scene was always in the correct place. Like at the end when Rasheed was holding the helmet and hid it behind his leg from his parents. The shot of just that helmet said all that it needed to. 8/10
Performance: Brilliant performance especially from such a young cast. The casting choices were also very well done. I never once found myself questioning the casting choices, every actor looked like the role they were meant for. Especially considering that the main characters were, for the most part, Arab and so the casting choices showed this. Often the case with films though is the casting choices do not reflect the heritage or race of the characters, for example, being set in Egypt but the majority of the actor's are white. 7/10
Mise-en-scene: My personal favourite part of the film. Everything on screen had a purpose at all times, especially the costumes. The change in Mo's clothing from bright at the beginning to darker as he started becoming more and more lost to the streets was a very nice touch and showed Mo's slow descent. We also see the opposite happen in Rasheed as he slowly starts becoming less and less involved with these gangs. Or the beautifully subtle metaphors. For example the scene where Izzi is stabbed. First, the dog is stabbed and is left bleeding out in the street. Everyone is stunned looking at the dying animal that's been dubbed "Man's best friend". Seconds later the owner of the dog stabs Izzi in his chest and leaves him bleeding out in the street in a similar fashion to the dog. Considering that Izzi is also Rasheed's best friend this was a beautiful metaphor. 10/10
Sound: None of the sound really stood out to me. I actually found some of the time it didn't fit the scene. For example when Mo was sitting in the tree with his knife. Despite this being a big point of tension and foreshadowing of danger ahead, the music was calming the entire time. Not only did it not reflect Mo's thoughts at the time, since he was obviously thinking about using a knife on someone, but it contradicted what the scene represented. 4/10
Lighting: The lighting was used as a metaphor throughout most of the film for money. This is because when Rasheed was on the streets selling drugs, he put money in his mother's wallet for the electricity. However when he stops selling drugs and Mo starts replacing him, the lights are off more and more often in their home. This shows that the family are struggling for money more and more and also Mo's state of mind is becoming darker and darker. 7/10
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