My Brother the Devil

MBTD has a great cast, not a single complaint about it. The young actors are truly phenomenal. The story of two brothers in Gangland London doesn't ring that right to me. This is not gangland London. What the producer wants to show is the under layer of society where kids too mature for their age get in the lowest ranks in the hierarchy of drug dealers and their rivalry to make it big or make it out. But it's too clean, too polished and too polite.

El Hosaini goes methodically by a list of what are considered controversial topics just enough to charm but not offend the audience. Events are nicely sown together to make festival goers feel that this movie is "deep". Played out in sleek designed apartments and clean street scape instead of rough neighbourhoods governments neglect and fail to maintain . The director doesn't really understand the dynamics although apparently she spend 5 years doing research for the script. It looks like she spend a lot of time reading about it. The world she tried to capture is far more gritty than this. It's a nice watch but in no way La Haine where you see desolation, despair and boredom with a life that will have nothing else to offer. If I could I would rate this 8 for the cast and 5 for the script.