Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2015 British war film called,
Brothers of War. Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
The movie begins with the two brothers named Kurt Ludwig and Gustav Otto Gutenberg talking with
their executor regarding the process of estate assets previously owned by their deceased father.
The executor then tells them about paying their father’s just debts,
funeral, and testamentary expenses. Technically, their father has bequeathed
all of his effects and estates, including any property over which he has a general power of
appointment by will, to his trustees upon trust, which is his two beloved sons in equal shares.
However, there is a follow-up statement upon their father’s testament, stating that if either of them
shall predecease him, leaving a child, none of that last bit will be relevant. Luckily,
the two brothers show happiness after hearing that everything is split right down the middle.
Afterward, the executor gives a letter addressed to both of them. Confused,
Kurt and Gustav accept it as they read the context inside. Unfortunately, it is a letter written by
his father before he died, informing them that they have both given him so much joy in his life.
However, their father clarifies that it is not only by watching them grow old as an individual
but also through the brothers’ knowledge of providing affection to each other.
Because of that, their father thinks that brotherly love is a truly wonderful thing.
Afterward, they continue reading the final story of their father on a small dairy farm in England.
In the letter, the story starts with Jacob Jackson, who owns the farm and lives with his
wife, Margaret. Luckily, the couple bore two angels named Jake and Greg Jackson.
During the year 1939 in Fhurling, Jacob happily feeds the pigs in his backyard while his wife is
busy preparing food for their breakfast. However, they suddenly hear Jake’s motorcycle coming to
their house with a woman named Sally Pettifer, so Greg and Margaret watch them over the window.
Suddenly, the story flashbacks to the days when Jake and Greg are still young,
wherein their father eventually beats Jake using a belt for not following his mother’s
order to get down through the block fence. Then going back to the present, Jake hides Sally at
the back of the pickets to flirt with her. After a while, Jake invites Sally inside
their barn. Unfortunately, Jake grows up living for girls, guns, and adrenalin,
while his younger brother, Greg, grows up reading and writing poetries. Afterward, Jake invites
Sally inside their house for dinner when suddenly he starts caressing her legs while eating.
Meanwhile, Margaret can’t keep her eyes off of Jake, so she eventually asks him about the bike,
to which Jake answers that he borrowed it from his mate named Charlie Palmer
for a day. Afterward, Margaret orders Jake to work in their house instead of
messing with motorbikes that don’t belong to him.
But then Jake excuses himself, saying that they will fix the Fordson with his father by tomorrow,
and luckily, his father agrees with him. Afterward, Jake lets his father use the
motorbike as he discreetly flirts with Sally at the back of their house. However, Greg suddenly
sees them, frustrating Jake for interrupting what they’re doing. Jake then embarrasses Greg
in front of Sally, saying that he’s a homosexual person who doesn’t like seeing women’s bodies.
So, Greg eventually walks out and goes to the forest while holding a book when suddenly
Sally approaches him while riding a bicycle. Afterward, Jake and Sally share a conversation
until they open up about the war that will loom over England’s green and pleasant land.
Meanwhile, Jake busies himself at the riverbank, tying up the bottle on the tree to practice
shooting using his revolver. Afterward, Jake begins shooting the bottle with one tap, while
Sally, on the other hand, tries flirting with Greg by asking him what kind of book he’s reading.
Unfortunately, Jake sees Greg and Sally walking together as they return to the house.
Because of that, the tensions and bitter rivalry between the two eventually erupt into bloody,
life-changing violence, in which Jakes attempt to kill himself using the revolving gun he’s holding.
Suddenly, Sally and Margaret hear a gunshot from the barn while talking,
so they immediately run towards the area to check. Unfortunately, Jake suffers from a traumatic
brain injury after blowing his head with a gunshot, and Greg has left no choice but to
sign up for the front-line battle in France since his older brother can’t join anymore.
Afterward, Jake talks to his mother, who’s busy feeding an incapacitated injured Jake,
assuring her that he will return home safely. Margaret then goes to the barn to talk with
her husband about sending Greg off to the war. Afterward, Jacob answers, saying that Greg is
no longer a child and can even make up his mind. Yet, Margaret still disagrees with him, telling
Jacob that Greg is her son while Jake is his, pointing out that Jake’s not her biological son.
Against a backdrop of chaos and uncertainty, Greg discovers a world of uncompromising brutality
as he joins the military. Unfortunately, Greg’s Captain suddenly embarrasses him in front of the
young soldiers, indirectly telling him about an unpleasant scenario regarding killing the enemy.
The Captain then shouts to order Greg to stand up straight like a soldier,
not a Nancy-boy. Afterward, the Captain then guards his young soldiers, including Greg,
to charge as they attack the enemy, who’s continuously shooting through the field.
Upon hiding, the enemy shouts to call out Frank’s soldiers,
telling them that they will take the prisoners. Because of that, most of his battle brothers
surrender while he and Egon Faber refuse to get out. Unfortunately, the enemy kills the boys
while Bert and Greg luckily slip through them. A while later, Greg rests himself on the ground
after the attack when suddenly Egon calls him, ordering Greg to get his stuff as they need to
make a move together. So, Greg quickly gets up and follows Egon as they walk through the forest.
Luckily, Egon spots a shelter nearby, so he signals Greg to prepare his gun if someone shoots
them while attempting to enter. Luckily, Egon and Greg successfully enter the safeguard house.
Meanwhile, Jacob entertains Frank, telling him that he has never grown any flaxseed
before because his farm is for dairy. Yet, Frank interrupts him, saying that the War
Ags use those seeds for linseed oil, suitable for waterproofing and treating timber in a war effort.
Technically, Frank is encouraging Jacob to plant flaxseed because he’s part of the War Agricultural
Executive Committees, a government-backed organization tasking the farmers to increase
agricultural production in their country. However, Jacob discovers that Frank convinced Greg to be
in the military with Margaret’s permission. On the other hand, Henri Hurot suddenly gives
Egon and Greg a le petit dejeuner so that they won’t shoot him. Afterward, he gives them food
to eat while introducing himself as a miller that makes flour and his daughter named Christabelle,
who makes bread using the flour he made. While listening, Henri eventually opens up about the
Germans loitering everywhere and the unsafeness in the place they are currently staying in.
To Greg’s surprise, he thinks that all French residents have surrendered,
but Henri clears out that they’re still bleeding from the last war,
and the wounds are, unfortunately, deep, yet they are still recovering from it.
Afterward, Henri encourages Egon and Greg to finish the battle and head north to get to
the coast because there are more chances of survival than they got in the place.
However, the Germans already catch them before they even leave, allowing them to get Egon and
Greg’s weapons so they can’t shoot them. Unfortunately, Henri gets killed after
trying to save his daughter, Christabelle, from getting assaulted by the German Captain.
Because of that, Christabelle eventually takes the gun and kills the German Captain,
including his one soldier, when suddenly she gets shot by the second German soldier.
Then, Greg, on the other hand, attempts to save Egon by hitting the last living German soldier.
However, Egon fails to survive, leaving Greg alone in the shelter.
Afterward, Greg carries the wounded Christabelle to get up as he takes her to Moulin. While
walking, Greg suddenly reminisces the moments he had with his older brother, Jake, in the barn,
in which he gets an order from Jake to shoot him. Seconds later, Greg safely takes home Christabelle
on their mill and gets himself to change attires. On the other hand, Jacob decides to grow the
farm with Jake without following Frank’s order to plant flaxseed.
However, Jacob eventually attempts suicide instead of killing his son, Jake, in his room.
The following day, Greg wakes up and walks toward the brook river to wash his face.
Afterward, he begins working on the mill by filling the sack with flours when Bernadette
Dupond suddenly appears, asking Greg how long he has been working on their mill. Bernadette
then orders Greg to burn his uniform so that the German soldiers won’t find any traces of him.
After Jacob kills himself, Frank decides to help Margaret raise Jake,
taking Jacob’s position to care for the new Fordson and feed their farm animals. Frank also
continues planting the flaxseed on their farm at the top field, yet Margaret seems to ignore what
he’s saying and keeps showing frowns on her face. So, Frank tries to get her attention, in which
Margaret finally turns her head around to thank him. Afterward, Frank excuses himself, saying
that he will see Margaret by tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, Christabelle gets Greg some food as
she walks into his room; it’s somehow a payment after working the whole day at their mills.
Afterward, Christabelle teaches Greg some French words when suddenly Greg attempts
coupling with her. Christabelle and Greg spend their lovely night making love to each other.
The following day, a group of young women, including Sally, starts doing chores on
Margaret’s farm. Afterward, they go inside the house to return the mugs they used for drinking
coffee when suddenly Sally sees Jake. So, she gets the cup to let him drink, controlling herself to
cry as she sees Jake attempting to talk with her. Meanwhile, Christabelle eventually gets pregnant
with Greg’s baby. On the other hand, Sally loses her balance because of Sam Williams,
who suddenly cat-calls her while driving a bicycle. Because of that, Sam apologizes and
takes the responsibility to fix her bike free of charge, and promises never to whistle again.
However, Sally only tells him to shut his mouth as she accuses him of being overpaid
and objectifying women. But Sam disagrees with her and follows Sally, convincing her that he
knows how to fly T-Bolts with the outfit out of Steeple Morden. But then, Sally refuses to talk,
so Sam invites her to come to dance with him on Saturday at the town hall in Litlington.
Meanwhile, Christabelle calls for Greg after seeing her water breaking,
a sign of giving birth already. However, instead of seeing Greg walking into the room,
two Sicherheitsdienst soldiers appear and point their guns at her. Afterward, a Sicherheitsdienst
soldier grabs Christabelle’s hair and takes her as a hostage while his partner in crime
is trying to find an evidence photo of Greg. Eventually, they find Greg’s things in a secret
basement and slap Christabelle to reveal what she knows. However, Christabelle refuses to tell
everything and carelessly grabs her outside their house as they hear Greg’s footsteps.
Luckily, Greg escapes from the gunshots of the Sicherheitsdienst soldier, but unfortunately, he
fails to save his wife, Christabelle, from them. Later at night, Greg goes back to their house to
check on Christabelle, but unfortunately, Bernadette informs him that they took her,
and Greg must be careful because they have all the names and codes in the house.
Greg then attempts to enter to rescue his wife when suddenly Bernadette tells him
that he better not go inside because there are explosives everywhere. Technically,
Bernadette laid it all earlier, so he guides Greg on the safest way to let him see Christabelle.
Meanwhile, Christabelle gets trapped in the basement while her hands and feet get tied
to a chair. In that way, Christabelle will not be able to escape. Unfortunately, Christabelle
is gradually losing blood for holding herself to give birth to their baby. On the other hand,
Bernadette wakes Greg up, telling him they need to make more progress before it gets light.
Afterward, Bernadette takes Greg outside Beauvais, a place where a plane will drop off a British
agent, so that Greg will take his place and sends himself on the way back to his family’s house.
Despite refusing Berndatte’s offer, Greg has left no choice
but to leave Christabelle behind after learning that France is not safe for him anymore.
But before he leaves, Bernadette assures Greg that Christabelle will be secure, saying that she’s a
strong woman like her father and would not give up easily since she also has a baby inside her womb.
Afterward, Greg flees with Bernadette on the way to Beauvais.
On the other hand, a Sicherheitsdienst agent enters the room to interrogate Christabelle.
Yet, Christabelle still refuses to say anything, so the agent has left no choice
but to take out his nail plier to scare Christabelle off from cutting her nails.
Unfortunately, the pitiless German cuts one of Christabelle’s fingernails.
Meanwhile, Bernadette finally sees the incoming plane in the sky, so she immediately tells Greg
to come on her signal. However, Greg eventually stops moving as he remembers his memories with
Christabelle during his stay in France, but he also snaps out after Bernadette calls his name.
Greg quickly runs towards the plane as Bernadette and her family help him get inside.
Luckily, Greg safely gets into the aircraft before flying again through the murky skies.
On the other hand, Christabelle shouts inside the basement as she tries to
give birth while her hands and feet are still tied to the chair. Unfortunately,
the German refuses to help Christabelle out and only watches her do it herself.
Meanwhile, Greg safely returns home, surprising his mother,
Margaret, and Jake after entering, all wet due to the cold rain.
Shocked, Margaret tells Greg that she thought he was dead already after not receiving any letters
during his mission in the war. But, instead of answering her mother, Greg walks out.
The movie ends with Greg going back to the barn where the incident happened years ago
between him and her brother. Technically, the last scene of his memory shows that
Greg compellingly shoots Jake on the cheek despite Jake’s plead not to do it.
Afterward, Greg apologizes to Jake and takes him back to the barn, only reshooting him and
getting him killed. Surprised, Kurt and Gustav find out that the story they have read is about
their grandfather, Greg, who eventually reveals his reason for killing his brother Jake is because
he’s an adopted child. Unfortunately, Christabelle dies in labor in the basement of the town hall.
Then, in the last part of the letter, Kurt and Gustav receive an order from their father to visit
their grandfather, Greg, and show themselves as two loving brothers who value each other.