Brother- Directed by Aleksei Balabanov

Brother, a 1997 film directed by Aleksei Balabanov, was a film that took a stance on the dark time of the 1990's: the situation after the fall of the Soviet Union and the institution of the Russian Federation. The 90's were a chaotic decade for Russians, the infrastructure of the government had been torn from the earth and started again from scratch; the Russians adopting the Western ideology of capitalism. This was not without its faults though, new Russian Federation leader Boris Yeltsin would come under fire for his allowance of "cowboy capitalism," a type of capitalism that allowed for corruption to run rampant. It is during this very situation that Brother takes place; the main character Danila is a ex-soldier who is strapped for work. His mother recommends that he go find his brother in Saint Petersburg so he can help him find a job. Danila does so, but he discovers that his brother is a hit man for a mob boss named Krugly. After meeting a few people such as the capricious Kat and the nice homeless man Hoffman in addition to mishaps concerning Krugly and his men, Krugly orders that both Danila and Viktor be killed. Danila figures out that his brother is in trouble (although Viktor was in fact the one that betrayed his location [which was actually Danila's love interest Sveta's location]) and goes to save him. Upon killing Krugly and his men, Danila tells his brother to return to their mother, and that he himself is leaving town.

Brother displayed the condition of the Russian Federation during the current time, corruption ran rampant, the family structure was degrading and organized crime was becoming the norm. I believe that Danila's character however demonstrates the morality that some Russians still maintained. He refused to kill the radio director and when the two hit men were going to disobey him, Danila shot them to prevent it; this is an example of his strong moral sense. I believe that the characters of Kat and Hoffman symbolize the rebellious nature of the Russian youth and the failing economy respectively. Altogether, Brother was a stereotypical gangster film, yet at the same time, exhibited the darker side to the new Russian Federation, therefore giving it a deeper meaning which made it more entertaining to watch.