Not actually a war film: a few minutes of improbable action. German troops are shown as shooting captured British soldiers - whatever crimes they committed elsewhere, this simply didn't happen.The real failure is the characters, all of them truly repellent. Flashes between different times, which is OK, but really nothing entertaining was happening in any of them.Must have been scripted by someone who's scared of the countryside and decides that it's full of awful people, instead of a mix of all sorts.There's apparently a plot, but really it did not interest me. Skipped most of it, no signs of anything but more dross

The film 'Brothers of War' leaves its viewers stunned by the end. The plot twists encapsulate and grab its audience who sit and watch the harsh realities of war. The beautiful cinematography with sweeping views of the country brings light to a film which grabs the realness of war with little relief. Rory Finn and the rest of the actors bring the film to life with superb acting. The last thing to mention is the attention to detail which immerses the viewers into the time period. The films story is extremely original, Mike Carters writing and direction is definitely something to aspire to. The film really is a much watch!

Contains Spoilers!Just as my faith in the British Film Industry is beginning to wane, along comes a real gem!'Brothers of War' is a proper war film in that it concentrates on the impact of war and not just on moments of combat - which are actually few and far between in a film which is misleadingly packaged as an action movie.The story kicks off in Cologne with two German brothers discovering secrets of their ancestry in a letter left in their father's will. So begins an unravelling of the past; a journey with loads of twists and turns and a number of horrific incidents as well!On a small English farm back in 1939 two brothers are fighting over the same girl and the parents have made the problem worse by having 'favourites'. The brotherly rivalry finally comes to a head one afternoon when the older one starts to show off by playing Russian Roulette. What actually happens on the farm that afternoon isn't entirely clear until the end of the film, but the incident leaves the gung-ho brother shot and paralysed, and the other (more gentle soul) ready to enlist for battle. The story then follows the fortunes of the two brothers: one who is wheelchair bound, unable to speak and forced to watch his parents slowly destroy themselves, while the younger one runs away from the fighting and starts to work for the French Resistance. Despite a couple of military blunders (I'm sure the aggressive Sergeant Major would have insisted on closer haircuts for all his regiment!), the war scenes are generally well-handled. The massacre of the British soldiers is particularly horrifying, and the torture of the pregnant young French girl by the SD Officers is genuinely shocking!The story is beautifully told and the cinematography is stunning - so is the sound track - although I would have liked a few more moments of silence in some of the scenes.Don't watch this film if you want all-out war action, because you don't get it. What you get instead is a really powerful and convincing story which will leave you both uplifted and drained! Great film! British film-making at its best!

The synopsis of this film is that two brothers have been indulging in sibling rivalry for some time. Greg is the nice one who likes poetry and is all sensitive and Jake is the black sheep who loves divilment and causing a ruckus. This is all told in both linear and flashback mode. Then the war breaks out and Greg is the one who volunteers in 1939 and leaves the familial strife on the farm to go off to war. **Please note the following may contain PLOT SPOILERS**Well the war bit or rather the actual fighting bit lasts about three minutes of screen time, the rest is all about relationships both in England and France. One brother never even makes it to war. This is though quite a good film if taken on the relationship front and the issues of family ties and love. There are some plot holes too which were easy to have addressed. The acting though is all pretty solid and the attention to period detail is all done very well, especially when you consider this was an independent effort. It is the mis selling that is the real issue here.So not a war film, per se, but with a background to WW2 to add drama and give context to the bigger story. The cover art is about as accurate as saying FIFA runs like a well oiled machine. It should not be allowed and will attract lovers of war films who may not be at all interested in a purely relationship based story – and that is no matter how well acted and put together it is – hence my rating.