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.

Best movie ever!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The biggest problem of this film is that is completely one-sided. While Vlade Divac is very much alive, Drazen Petrvic is very much dead, so we hear only one side of the coin. Divac, who appears as a friendly, jovial guy was indeed someone who mocked Petrovic's country and did throw the Croatian flag to the ground, and in a Lakers/Nets game did foul Petrovic in anger. So, now, 20 years later it's easy going down memory lane without admitting any guilt. Is he pretending to wonder what happened or is this a genuine blindness to one's own appalling behavior. Furthermore, the film doesn't present the political situation in a hysterically accurate way. The violence and breakup of Yugoslavia where masterminded by Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic in his quest for greater Serbia. Divac never acknowledges that...he simply regrets the war. If he was truly a great man, he would have apologized for his behavior and admitted shame for the behavior of his country.

horribly sad ending DON'T show they doing CPR on the corpse!I've seen quite a few of the films from the "30 for 30" series from ESPN and must say that "Once Brothers" might be the best film among them. However, I warn you that you might want to keep a Kleenex handy, as this is a pretty sad one.The show is about the rise and fall of the Yugoslavian basketball program in the 1980s and 90s. It's hard to believe now, but at one point, they were among the best teams in the world--a real powerhouse. In fact, the team was so good that the NBA took notice--and drafted some of the top Yugoslavian players--including Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc and Drazen Petrovic. The story then becomes more interesting when the Iron Curtain falls--and Yugoslavia starts to disintegrate due to ethnic and religious divisions that have been simmering for centuries. Once friends, Divac and Petrovic would not even talk after that, though they had been best friends. Divac had offended Petrovic and the gulf between them was enormous. Then, the story takes an even darker turn.If you want drama, then this is for you! Just don't expect a happy ending--which makes sense, as well over 100,000 died during the civil war in Yugoslavia. A sad, horrible time...and a really gripping show.

Within sports there will always be stories – the season where the team came back from nowhere to win the title, the season where the team didn't lose a single game and so on, and to a certain degree these stories are captured forever in the stats. However within any season or match there will always be specifics and it is these that are the things people tell each other about in pubs and often this oral history is the main way these stories remain. This is why i have enjoyed many of these ESPN film because they do a good job of looking at the smaller stories behind the sports. With Once Brothers the film offered me the appeal of knowing the people involved but yet not knowing the story.It was the mid-90's when I started playing and watching basketball and I such I of course came to know the names of the European players such as Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc and others because they were excellent players, however by the time they entered my sphere of knowledge, the story of this film had happened already. And so it was I watched the film without knowing what happened to Drazen Petrovic or, at one point, quite what story I was being told. For the first half of the film we are filled in on the history of the young Yugoslavian team and how some of the stars from there came to the NBA. The story starts to focus on Divac (who has been our presenter and narrator) and his friend Petrovic, showing the early NBA careers of both – with Petrovic in particular capable of more than Portland was offering him.When the war breaks out the film then follows the fracturing between Divac and the rest of the team – in particular the death of the friendship with Petrovic and the importance of one interaction with a flag after a European match. This thread is followed until the tragic end to the story. The telling is really good throughout and the focus on Divac is a strength because he has a great warmth and is natural in front of camera – he may or may not be incredibly wealthy but he certainly doesn't come over like a spoilt sports star. His narration and his honesty makes the film compelling and, in addition to the details, it is quite moving. The presentation does add some stuff that the facts don't need – for example the sad music played over war footage felt like it was overegging it for no reason. Mostly though it is bang on the money; it shows some great footage from the Nets with Petrovic showing his quality against Michael Jordan and it makes the civil war in Yugoslavia easy to understand. The access to the players and the families is good and it really puts a human face on the story and it is sad that the two men never had a chance to come together having be torn apart by arbitrary political lines on a map.Well presented, engaging, moving and informative; this is a great film that tells a sports story I never knew – it benefits greatly from the warm honesty of Divac as presenter and subject.

Great documentary. And the perfect thing was that it was made by people that weren't and aren't from ex Yugoslavia. Once the most powerful sports country in the world. Which traces could still be felt in its former republics, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia... This documentary was made by a completely neutral producer and director. It is a fantastic and a sad life story that was told in a brilliant way. Why is war hell, what it does to you and your once brothers... Amazing and huge metaphor. Not to mention that it captures first return of Divac to Zagreb after the Yugoslavian war. Petrovic is a legend, and even for the people who never heard of him or never followed basketball and NBA, this documentary craftily tells the story and the back story. His father Serbian, and his mother Croatian, I can't even imagine what he went through during the war. I'm so happy that someone made this, it just had to be made! Brotherhood among people has no borders. No space for nationalism and racism. Once brothers, always brothers!