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My Brother the Devil | 2013 | NR | - 6.6.10
Two British-born Arab brothers have to face the racism of gangland London while one of them tries to stay in college and choose a different life. With Saïd Taghmaoui, James Floyd, Fady Elsayed, Aymen Hamdouchi, Ashley Thomas, Anthony Welsh, Arnold Oceng, Letitia Wright, Amira Ghazalla, Elarica Gallacher and Nasser Memarzia. Directed by Sally El Hosaini. [1:51]
SEX/NUDITY 6 - A young man grabs a young woman as they kiss, she tries to push him away when he reaches for her shorts and pulls down her shirt, and we hear the young man pant and moan sexually as the young woman is obviously upset that they are having sex against her wishes; it is implied that the young man climaxes and we see the young woman adjust her shorts, and the young man kisses and hugs (no nudity is visible throughout). A young man and a young woman kiss through an open window, the young man pulls the young woman into the room through the window and we see a teen boy awaken from the noise; we hear sexual moans and the sound of a bed bouncing as it is implied they are having sex and we then see the young woman with her arms around the young man (we see the young man's bare chest).
► A man kisses a young man as they wrestle playfully; the young man pulls away and shouts angrily at the man. A young man tries to kiss a man and the man pushes him away; we see the young man lift the man's shirt and they are seen taking off their clothes as the man initially struggles; it is implied the two men are going to have sex. A teen boy spies on his brother through a closed window and he sees a shirtless man and a young man's feet on a bed; it is implied that the teen boy understands that his brother is having a homosexual affair.
► We see a young man wearing boxer-style underwear as he walks down a hallway; his bare chest and back are visible. We see a young man take off his shirt and his bare chest is visible. We see a shirtless young man standing in a bathroom and his bare chest is visible.
► A teen boy watches a young man and young woman kiss passionately; the young woman watches the teen boy as she continues to kiss the young man. A teen boy tries to kiss a young woman but the young woman pushes him away and shouts at him.
► A teen boy tells a young woman that his brother is gay and involved with another man, and not interested in having sex with a young woman any longer.
VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - Several young men start a street fight with another young man: we see a teen boy and a teen girl watching in an alleyway when a man releases a dog to attack a young man and we see the young man stab the dog (blood pours from the dog's chest) and the owner of the dog then stabs the young man (we see blood pour from his chest, and a pool of blood is seen behind the young man and blood gurgles from his mouth); another young man shouts for someone to call an ambulance and another young man shouts that the young man is dead and we later see a group of young men at a funeral.
► A young man gets out of a car following a teen boy, the young man aims to shoot a young woman and the teen boy grabs the gun; the teen boy and the young man wrestle momentarily and one of them is shot in the shoulder and falls to the ground (we see the bullet leave through the victim's back and blood sprays from the wound) and we see the teen boy on the ground (blood is seen coming from the wound on his shoulder and mouth); we later see him with his arm in a sling, recovering.
► A teen boy tries to attack a man, pulling a knife on him and the man slams the boy against a wall causing the boy to cry and drop the knife. A young woman answers a door and is grabbed by a young man who then pushes her out the door, then goes into the house, pulls a gun out of a drawer and points it at a young man in the shower; the shower is running empty and we see another young man enter the house by breaking a window. Two young teen boys grab another teen boy and shove him against a wall, one of them pulls a knife on the other teen boy, and then grabs a baggie from the teen boy's waistband (it is implied the baggie contains drugs); the teens shout angrily at the boy, who knocks the knife out of one of their hands and runs off through a crowd. A young man shouts at his teenage brother, he throws a wad of cash in the teen boy's face and then a handful of small baggies (implied to be drug baggies); the boy gets angry, pulls a knife on the young man and storms away. A young man and his teen brother play-fight, and then the teen boy escalates the fight to punching, until they knock over a mirror. A young man grabs his teenage brother's head to slap him and the boy pulls away after the young man shouts at him for spreading a rumor that he is a terrorist. A young man shoves a man away, after shouting at him. A teen boy reaches up to punch his older brother when the young man grabs the boy's arm and they appear about to fight until we hear their father chide them. A man grabs his teenage brother out of a car, warning him that he is doing "grown up stuff."
► A young man practices holding a gun against a window, aimed at himself. A young man is about to pull a gun on another young man as he is being tattooed but he does not; we see a second young man grab the gun, run into the tattoo shop with the gun drawn, we hear a young woman scream and the young man runs out with the gun down.
► A young man orders his teenage brother to go home. A teen boy shouts at another teen boy as he tries to get close to his face, and then storms away. A woman shouts at a young man. A teen boy shouts at his older brother. A young man tells a teen boy to hand over a cell phone and leave. A young man tells a man that he wants out of a gang, the man makes a vague threat and then implies that the young man is important to his gang.
► A young man tells other young men and a woman that he is going to shoot a man in exchange for getting his teenage brother out of gang activity. Two young men pick up a teenage boy and tell him that a young man, the teen boy's brother, had been injured when a man shot him. A teen boy asks another teen boy if his older brother had "killed somebody"; the teen boy says that he does not think it is that serious. A teen boy tells another teen boy and a teen girl that he believes his older brother is involved in terrorist actions (the teen boy knows this is not true, he is saying it as a cover); the teen boy is then shown with other teen boys joking about terrorism and when one of them jokes that he wants a grenade the teen boy whose older brother is in question says it is not a joke. A man asks his young adult son if he had stolen a television to give as a gift. A man tells a young man that his brothers are in prison, and that is why he has left gang life.
► As a young man is being tattooed, we see blood coming from the tattooed scratch. A teen boy coughs and spits on the ground.
► A young man is seen hitting a punching bag repeatedly on multiple occasions. A young man jokingly shoves another young man into the trunk of a car. A young man jokingly mock-punches his teen brother. A young man jokingly punches another young man. We see a man's photographs depicting a series of police officers and young people at a funeral.
LANGUAGE 10 - About 113 F-words and its derivatives, we see a still photograph of people using an obscene hand gesture, 3 sexual references, 43 scatological terms, 10 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, 4 derogatory terms for homosexuals, name-calling (soft, Pablo Escobar, crack head, joke, liars, hood rats, stupid, Tony Montana, dumb, pikeys, mad, wretch, Houdini), 8 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - We see a teen boy dealing drugs and exchanging drugs for money with a variety of people, we see a woman snorting cocaine, a teen boy snorts cocaine as he cries and he snorts a large amount of cocaine from the top of a school binder before collapsing, a teen boy and a young woman smoke marijuana, men and women take what is implied to be drugs and we see them smoking cigarettes and passing around a small black canister as they each take a lick of something in the canister and pass it around, a man smells a baggie of what is implied to be drugs and then hands a young man a wad of money, we see two men rolling marijuana cigarettes, and a teen boy is handed a bag of drugs. A teen boy unloads beer and shares it with another teen boy while a teen girl turns down the beer and says she does not drink or smoke, a woman cleans up a pile of empty beer bottles from a table as she discusses having a party the night before, and a young man chides his teenage brother for appearing to be intoxicated. Young men smoke cigarettes throughout the movie, and we see photographs of young men smoking cigarettes.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Gang violence, trying to get out of gangs, respect, drug trade, discovering your sexuality, sexual identity, gang violence, revenge, rape.
MESSAGE - The bond between brothers is very strong.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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