just watch it!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This movie is not the best in terms of acting, cinematography, editing, etc, but the subject matter is so intense and it is presented in such raw form that I could not help but feel like the story swallowed me into it. It was like standing in the eye of a hurricane and watching all the destruction happening around me. This is not the kind of movie you want to watch if you just feel like passing the time or being entertained. It's the kind of movie that leaves you thinking, the kind that makes you cry tears of anger and sympathy, the kind that makes you question why some humans behave like subhumans, the kind without a happy ending because sometimes in life a happy ending is just not possible.

"For My Brother" (in Danish, "For Min Brors Skyld") is a full-length film that tells the story of a 17 year-old boy named Aske who is sexually abused and exploited for pornographic films by his unemployed father, Lasse. More importantly, it is the story of Aske's dedicated effort to protect his 12 year-old brother, Bastian, from a similar fate.At the outset, let me say that this movie is not for the emotionally faint of heart or the seeker of warm "fuzzies." It is an emotionally-wrenching depiction of the all-too-real problem of familial child sex abuse. The role of Aske, age 17, is played by a winsome 22-year-old blond actor named Elias Munk-Petersen. Munk appears shirtless or fully naked repeatedly, though the frontal nudity is fleeting and his two overt sex scenes are simulated. In the context of this film, however, the nudity is hardly gratuitous for it lies at the heart of the boy's vulnerability which is nowhere more evident than the scene in which Aske is unexpectedly abused by adult males.The movie does not lack for spectacular locations. It is shot in downtown Hillerød, Denmark, on the hilly west coast of Langeland Island, Denmark, in southern Sweden, and in the fjords of coastal Norway. Nor does the movie lack for plot, breathless drama, or emotionally-charged acting. The movie is about the very real pain suffered by sexually abused children, and the acting—especially that of Munk's Aske and Allen Karlsen's Lasse—is purely extraordinary.You will not find a young male actor more adept at conveying fear and vulnerability than Elias Munk in the role of Aske. The terror on his tear-streaked face after he finds Bastian's underwear next to his father's bed in an empty house is purely haunting. Munk is a serious actor with New York Film School background and a healthy filmography, and he carries this film from start to finish. He's a mature 22-year-old playing a powerless and frightened 17-year-old, and he pulls it off masterfully.As for Allan Karlsen's role as Lasse, well...you hate him. You fear him. You want him dead, although, as is typical in familial abuse cases, his kids do not. Put another way, Karlsen does a great job of acting too. I only hope he doesn't suffer the fate of Faye Dunaway who had great difficulty separating herself from her portrayal of a wire hangar-wielding Joan Crawford in "Mommy Dearest." Kudos also go to young Christopher Friis Jensen, who does a touching job in his only acting credit as younger brother Bastian, and to Oliver Bjørnholdt Spottag who plays Aske's concerned friend, Silas.The only drawback in this movie is some questionable camera work. Much of the movie appears to be shot with a hand-held camera, and the image shakes to the point that it occasionally becomes almost dizzying. I don't understand this, because it doesn't match the quality of the plot, acting, and locations. It's not that hard to keep a subject centered with smooth camera movement, and digital image stabilization has been around for more than a decade.I give this movie a thoughtfully-reached 8 stars. As a major full-length motion picture, it probably would be a 5 or 6, but it has the flavor of a short film and features many first-time actors. In that genre, it easily rates an 8 or 9 for its drama and emotion. With the camera work being a little spotty, I settled on an 8. (Its IMDb rating is 7.0 out of highest-ever rating of 9.3.) The acting supports these consistent ratings, and I most definitely recommend the film to anyone with the emotional armor to watch kids suffering under enormous stress. This is not a movie that leaves you as it finds you.

Just remember that this is not a film to entertain you, but it is here to open your eyes on the child abuse issue. This is one of the major problems today we're facing around the world. All the governments had taken the strict actions on the matter, yet somewhere without being noticed domestically these things keeps happening. Such a theme was this film, which is not easy to digest the ugly truth it reveals.Looks like a B movie from the Denmark, the production quality was decent, but the topic of the film was very strong and that makes it a must see even if you think you're not made for the micro- budget, not-so-popular films.I've seen films like 'Trade', 'Taken', 'Eden' et cetera, but this is something a new angle about when parents are directly involved in the such dirty affairs. This story was about two brothers and their miserable childhood. After their mother died of an accident, they end up in the custody of their abusive father. Life won't be the same as it was before to them, but the eldest takes all the measures to protect his little brother. Unfortunately, it looks the fate is not on their side when a terrible thing unfolds after one bad evening, which leads to a chain of events before concluding the narration with a twist."When I grow up I won't hit my kids."I am really lucky to find this film, which is yet to open its wings to reach the wider audience globally. I know this is not a film to have some good time, but might disturb you with its strong contents. Yes, the film has some of the bold scenes which strongly restricts for the adult's viewing. The film was shot in some of the beautiful locations, but what the story was dealing makes us to focus only on the cruelty the two minors are encountering.Just watch it to believe what's actually happening in the families of child abuse history. If this is what the fate of innocent children in the first world nation's lower class families, then imagine what about the second and the third world. If you had seen 'Trade of Innocents' and 'Graceland', you will get a clear picture.The director and actors are all the fresh faces, but given a one good product as the theme wise. One of the few things I did not feel comfortable was the camera work. It was very shaky and in the initial part it had given me a hard time to get used to it. Because of that kind of screenplay, it looked like it was shot with a camcorder.The others were the nude parts which were a bit unnecessary for a little film like this, but they went for a bold statement and I appreciate that effort. And finally the story, in some segments it did not convince me, as they were way too off from real like the accident in the beginning and dragging climax. If you won't mind these things considering it is a B movie, this film is definitely worth seeing. So here it goes my recommendation for the grown ups only.8/10

This is a riveting film that I had difficulty tearing myself away from and am having difficulty forgetting. It starts with a young boy being rented to his father's brother to be abused and doesn't get any brighter, except for a couple of episodes where the brothers are interacting. The actors are all excellent, particularly the young man playing Aske, at the center of the film.The whole film has a sense of inevitability, as though Aske has no way to change his circumstances. The change that does come is fleeting. The world of the film is unforgiving with only small moments of kindness and love.