The action is so consciously real that at one point when a bullet could be seen coming towards one side of the camera I flinched to the other side of my seat.
Comment
09/18/07
The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq (2006)
71 %
Reviews Counted: 21 Fresh: 15 Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.4/10
Runtime: 84 mins
Synopsis: Director Andrew Berends's documentary THE BLOOD OF MY BROTHER takes an up-close and personal look at the tragic consequences of the Iraq war through the story of an Iraqi family mourning the death of their eldest son, who was killed by American forces while guarding a Baghdad mosque.... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Director: Andrew Berends
Reviews
A needed corrective to superficially pro-American news reports and documentaries from the reactionary right.
03/01/07
Click to read the article
11/11/06
Berends's documentary works for the most part because it has a fresh point of view and worthwhile things to say about the individual value of overlooked masses in a war zone.
08/12/06
[The filmmakers'] access is far broader than any TV network’s, and in the end, they transcended the body counts and bland abstractions that characterize most Western reporting on the war.
07/27/06
Imparts a you-are-there atmosphere that's increasingly scarce as Western journalists retreat.
07/07/06
Top Critic
Documentary technique is poor, but Berends imparts a strong sense of the culture and the sort of dilemma that faces every member of this torn society.
07/07/06
I felt overly manipulated and sensed they were trying too hard to make a point, but unsure what point to make.
07/07/06
A scary and illuminating documentary made by an American that draws out our empathy for the grieving families of slain civilians in the Iraq war.
07/06/06
In the end, Berends sacrifices coherence for the sake of a story he's determined to tell, rather than focusing on the one that's practically telling itself.
06/30/06
A film that's by turns touching, infuriating, heartbreaking and confusing -- much like the war itself. And unlike much of what we've seen before.
06/30/06
Despite some remarkable unembedded footage, Andrew Berends' is yet another disappointingly superficial, unfocused and one-sided documentary on the conflict in Iraq.
06/30/06
It makes you rue the most indelicate of all combat euphemisms -- 'collateral damage.'
06/30/06
Without an apparent axe to grind, [Berends] presents a harrowing snapshot of the chaos of war and reminds us how difficult it is to simplify a nation, a people, or an individual.
06/30/06
This unsettling and frequently chilling look on a mourning Iraqi family has an immediacy that's rare for a theatrical documentary.
06/29/06
From the filmmaker Andrew Berends comes another documentary about the occupation of Iraq, but this time the story is told from the Iraqi point of view.
06/29/06
Top Critic
Berends gives over about a fourth of a fairly short movie to field footage and interviews with American soldiers, and the abbreviated look at the U.S. military makes it look more doltish and insensitive than the conflicted figures in The War Tapes.
06/29/06
Denouncing Saddam? It's strange because it's apparent that Barends is to some extent PRO Saddam in his leanings.
06/27/06
The subtitle, A Story of Death in Iraq, concisely captures its core subject: the brute facts of grief, suffering, and death in wartime.
06/27/06
As a study of the monumental human toll of war, Andrew Berends's documentary is distinctly lacking in both focus and balance.
06/09/06
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• The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq at AskMen
• The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq at AskMen
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