Mellem Brødre
| Between Brothers | |
|---|---|
 Movie Poster | |
| Directed by | Per Klostergaard |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Produced by | Emil Hebsang Nielsen |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Jannik Lassen |
Production company | |
Release date | 10 April 2010 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Littland |
| Language | Littish |
| Budget | 117 million Đ |
| Box office | 318.6 million Đ |
Between Brothers (Littish: Mellem Brødre) is a 2010 war movie directed by Per Klostergaard and starring William Sand, Joachim Krag and Alexandra Øster. The movie depicts the Littish Civil War and shows major historical events such as the Gistrup Massacre, Storming of Tinghuset, Battle of Frankerup among others. The movie follows the Trelleborg family as Kristian (William Sand) and Jonas (Joachim Krag) are fighting for opposite sites of the civil war. Other actors like Morten Ulfborg, Kenneth Dragør, Nikolaj Mollerup and Theodor Kvium star in supporting roles.
The movie was announced in March 2008, with director Per Klostergaard signing a deal with Bravo Broadcasting following failed negotiations with LTV. During the summer casting was done and William Sand and Joachim Krag was casted for the main brothers and by August 2008 filming had begun. Composer Jannik Lassen started on the soundtrack as filming wrapped up in February 2009.
Between Brothers premiered on 9 April 2010 and was released the following day across Littland. The movie was made available on DVD, Blu-ray and BravoNetwork on 1 June. The movie was a critical and financial success, grossing 318.6 million daler. The movie won 4 awards at the 48th Einar Awards, those being Best Original Score, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture.
Plot
During the 1908 harvest, an accident causes Kristian and Jonas Trelleborg to lose their father. Along with their mother, Josefine, they grieve and they struggle to maintain the farm, so they move to Gistrup using their savings. Jonas gets a job in metallurgy and joins the Gistrup Metallurgy Workers Union, becoming more socialist as time goes on and Kristian finds a job at the local police station, becoming an officer by January 1910. Their differing views cause tension at home, where Josefine tries to keep the peace between the increasingly hostile brothers. This comes to a head on 15 March 1910, as Kristian and Jonas are on opposite sites in the Gistrup Massacre and face each other in the streets. They both return home later that day with both leaving Josefine in tears as she fears losing her sons as Littland rapidly approaches civil war. Jonas joins the Littish People's Army after the Storming of Tinghuset, with Kristian joining the new Republican Army.
Kristian makes friend with his fellow soldiers, especially Martin Feldt, his superior. Jonas, however, feels more estranged from his fellow soldiers and becomes more isolated. As the Sønderland campaign rages on, both the brothers' perspectives are shown and they drift further apart, remembering the days they were happy together as kids. Kristian meets a woman, Katrine Arten, as his division gets trapped in the Aadal pocket and they form a romantic relationship in secret, as Katrine is engaged with another man. Life inside the Aadal pocket is rough and as food gets scarce, Katrine and Kristian grow closer, sharing his rations in order to get by. As the pockets come under attack by artillery, Katrine dies when Kristian is away on night patrol. This sends Kristian into a grief-stricken rage and he swears to kill all socialists and avenge her. During this, he reveals his brother is a socialist, causing him to be viewed with suspicion by some of his fellow soldiers.
Jonas is growing miserable in the socialist army and starts planning to desert and get back to his mother and brother, who he still believes is in Gistrup. His plan is ruined, however, as he is sent to join the Battle of Frankerup, with the aim of capturing Walter Nordskov. The socialists storm the city out of trenches and the whole city becomes a war-zone in a 5 minute long take. Jonas witnesses atrocities committed by socialists and begins to lose faith in the cause. Nordskov is killed during the battle and the socialists celebrate a victory. Jonas cries himself to sleep, having an internal conflict and longing for home. The socialists start losing the civil war and republican forces counterattack and drive them back from Frankerup and other major cities. Jonas once again plans to desert to Gistrup but is captured by republican soldiers and is sent to Aadal as a POW. Here, he meets Kristian and they come to conflict. Kristian is disgusted to find out his brother joined the socialists, only thinking he was a sympathiser while Jonas is just happy to see his brother. Kristian beats Jonas while condemning him for fighting for the enemy and Jonas is thrown in a holding cell.
In the spring of 1913, the civil war ends with a socialist defeat. Jonas is now classified as a traitor and is sentenced to death by firing squad, Kristian volunteers, to be executioner. Their mother, Josefine, shows up and tries to both talk Kristian out of shooting his own brother and to get his sentence reduced to a lifetime jail. Both of her attempts fail. Jonas is brought up in front of a wall and Kristian takes aim. There is a deafening silence as the brothers stare at each other. A gunshot breaks the silence as the movie cuts to black.
Cast
- William Sand as Kristian Trelleborg
- Joachim Krag as Jonas Trelleborg
- Alexandra Øster as Josefine Trelleborg
- Morten Ulfborg as Martin Feldt
- Maria Bodilsen as Katrine Arten
- Kenneth Dragør as Walter Nordskov
- Ernst Solkær as Otto Reborg
- Peter Ring as Vilhelm Einarsen
- Nikolaj Mollerup as Preben Asklev
- Svend Nowak as Kasper Król
- Theodor Kvium as Roch Busk
- Carsten Kristoffersen as Kristian Hammergaard
Production
Director Per Klostergaard had long planned to make a movie about the Littish Civil War yet had problems getting a story together that could capture the entire conflict and all it involved. He stated that it was only when his girlfriend Julie Lundberg offered to help with the movie and proposed for it to be centered on a few characters rather than the conflict itself that the movie really started getting going. He first proposed the movie to LTV in late 2007, but they weren't willing to lend the budget Klostergaard was proposing. He then went to Bravo Broadcasting, with whom he signed a contract for making the movie in early 2008.
Klostergaard recruited Emil Hebsang Nielsen as his producer, having previously worked with him on past movies. They started casting for main characters in the summer of 2008 and William Sand, Joachim Krag, Alexandra Øster, Morten Ulfborg and Kenneth Dragør, among others, had been recruited for major roles and filming began by August. Bravo Broadcasting managed to get several locations where the historical battles had taken place, which Klostergaard used to their full potential. Over 4km of trenches were dug for the movie in various locations. Over 300 extras were used to fill the trenches and give life to the battle scenes. By February 2009, filming was wrapping up, and this is when Jannik Lassen was contacted to make a soundtrack by Klostergaard. Lassen supplied a soundtrack consisting of both bombastic and somber tracks to fit the emotional core of each scene.
During 2009, the post-production of the movie was in full force and Klostergaard reportedly slept at the editing office during the summer. In March 2010 a trial screening was done for the production crew as well as friends and family of the actors, who responded well to the movie.
Music
The movies soundtrack was released on 24 April 2010. The score was composed by Jannik Lassen, a close friend of Per Klostergaard, who has frequently made soundtracks for Klostergaards movies.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Landskab" | 1:05 |
| 2. | "Du Skal Kravle Før Du Kan Gå" | 5:31 |
| 3. | "Strejke" | 3:28 |
| 4. | "Søndag" | 6:03 |
| 5. | "Et Enkelt Skud" | 0:41 |
| 6. | "Bedre Sent End Aldrig" | 3:21 |
| 7. | "Altid Frejdig Når Du Går" | 1:13 |
| 8. | "Hjælp Dig Selv" | 2:30 |
| 9. | "Fra Hus Til Hus" | 7:19 |
| 10. | "Overfald" | 4:20 |
| 11. | "Natteravne" | 4:56 |
| 12. | "En Bakke" | 2:11 |
| 13. | "Udsyn" | 3:36 |
| 14. | "Med Lov Skal Land Bygges" | 4:07 |
| 15. | "Morgen Er Kommet" | 1:29 |
| 16. | "Altid Frejdig Når Du Går - Reprise" | 2:06 |
| Total length: | 53:56 | |
The cover for Altid Frejdig Når Du Går, a Littish hymn, was done by Lyndby Church Choir while the reprise was done by the actors.
The translated text for the hymn goes as follows:
Always bold, when you go
ways, that god dare know,
even if that goal you reach
is at worlds end only.
Never cower for darkness,
the stars will always shine,
with a prayer in your heart,
will you never shudder.
Fight for all that you hold dear,
die, if that's what it takes,
then life is not difficult,
but death is not either.
Release
Between Brothers premiered on 9 April 2010 at the cinema in Guldbrandcenteret and was released across the country the following day. Approximately 50 million daler was used for marketing promoting the movie up to its release. The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 1 June 2010 and was made available on BravoNetwork the same day. The physical releases included extras such as Director and lead actor commentary as well as behind the scene footage and outtakes.
Reception
Between Brothers was meet with critical acclaim upon its release with many critics pointing out the strong characters, breathtaking scenes, moving soundtrack and its depiction of the war. Metacritic shows the movie with an average score of 86 out of 100 based on critics as of April 2020. Between Brothers received 9 nominations for awards at the 48th Einar Awards, Littlands movie awards show, and won 4 awards, those being Best Original Score, Best Actor (for William Sand), Best Director (for Per Klostergaard) and Best Picture. Between Brothers did well at the box office, grossing 318.6 million daler. It was also the first Littish movie to gross over 1 million daler in a single day.
A couple of day after its release, Between Brothers came under controversy as its depiction of the Battle of Frankerup and the death of Walter Nordskov was accused of being romanticized and inaccurate. The scenes in question show both fictional atrocities committed by socialists and Nordskovs death as being more cruel than the historical records show. Historically, Nordskov shot himself before socialist soldiers could capture him. In the movie, however, there is a tense standoff between Nordskov and socialist soldiers. Director Per Klostergaard responded to these criticisms by pointing to that the movie opens with "Inspired by Real Events", rather than being based on them for the sake of a better story.