"BROTHERHOOD"
Director: Nicolo Donato
Trevor's Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars

I've had extremely good luck with movies this year. Donato's Brotherhood was no exception. Rare is the film that takes on the subjectivity of the hated so intently, exploring what is taboo and almost entirely unspeakable without apology. More specifically, this is a love story between two neo-Nazi radicals.

If you had to flinch a bit when reading that, you're not out of the norm. Characters such as these -- along with racists, homophobes, etc -- rarely are allowed sympathetic airtime on film. We prefer to see them get their due or repent and become rehabilitated. And in some ways, this film does wind up rehabilitating its characters, but not in the typical sense.

The story is quite wonderfully set-up and executed. Lars (exquisitely played by Thure Lindhardt who you may remember as the self-flagellating cult member in Angels & Demons) is forced out of the Danish army because his subordinates suspect he is gay. He is angry, dejected, and desperately seeking some kind of sociality. He unexpectedly finds himself at a recruitment meeting for a local neo-Nazi group held informally at a friend's apartment. Their issue of the day is of course immigration, and in particular those from the Middle East. A local refugee center is their target.

Lars doesn't sign up enthusiastically, but is rather courted by the group's local leader who sees in him a bright young spirit who could bring a discipline and intelligence to the group. A violent initiation leads him ever more into the hands of his comrades as he runs away from home and moves in with a prominent member, Jimmy, who is suspicious of the new recruit and the attention the leader gives him.

What follows is something in a study of deeply repressed homosexual desire and the violence of masculinity. It is quite wonderfully depicted here. It is indeed the love that dare not speak its name. Many times in the movie, I would find audience members laughing at parts that I found utterly sad. Like the moment Lars wakes up to find himself in bed with Jimmy. There is a terror in his eyes -- and panic. The audience laughs, but this is not a funny moment. He is of course scared of himself and what he has done, but also of what Jimmy might do to him if he wakes up.

I would also applaud the way in which the idiosyncrasies of neo-Nazi culture are explored here. Jimmy drinks organic beer because we have to be good to the environment -- protecting that which is natural is one the their central tenets. Set alongside the group's binge drinking and destructive practices, the irony is indeed exposed. Violence against gays is important, but terrorizing immigrants is the top priority. All of these ways expose their worldview and its contradictions.

Some of my friends felt like the film was bordering on "Nazi porn." I disagree. I think that's the easy and obvious way to write this film off. But if we want to work to dismantle hate ideologies, we desperately need to understand that its practitioners are actually human and find the humanity in them. That is in many circumstances an absolutely terrifying project -- but I think it's critical.

Here's the trailer: