My Brother the Devil is a 2012 British crime drama film written and directed by Sally El Hosaini. It has won multiple awards, including at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival. It stars James Floyd, Fady Elsayed and Said Taghmaoui.
My Brother the Devil (2012)
My Brother the Devil is a 2012 British crime drama film written and directed by Sally El Hosaini.
It has won multiple awards, including at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival.
It stars James Floyd, Fady Elsayed and Said Taghmaoui. It tells the story of two sons of Egyptian immigrants coming of age in east London. It was released in UK on 9 November 2012 and was in US cinemas from 22 March 2013.
Mo (Fady Elsayed) and Rashid “Rash” (James Floyd) are teenage brothers of Egyptian descent living with their parents in Hackney. Elder brother Rash is fiercely protective of Mo, giving him a TV when he does well and encouraging him to stay in school. However Mo begins to want to emulate Rash who works as a low level drug dealer, and is able to use money from his job to pay for small luxuries to make their lives more comfortable.
Mo is robbed by rival gang members while trying to do a drop-off for his brother. He calls Rash and his friends later when he spots the gang members at the corner store near where he lives. The confrontation between Rash’s gang and his rival Demon’s gang quickly grows violent and after Demon’s dog is stabbed Demon retaliates by stabbing and killing Izzi, Rash’s best friend.
Rash acquires a gun and plans to shoot Demon in retaliation. He finds Demon at a tattoo parlour but is unable to complete the task after seeing that Demon’s little brother is there, wearing the shoes he lifted from Mo. Rash begins to dream of getting out of the gang the way Izzi was planning on doing before he was murdered. He grows close to Sayyid, a French photographer who had been helping Izzi to get legal employment. After he tells Sayyid that he wants to leave the gang Sayyid offers him a job as a photography assistant working with him.
Mo begins to grow jealous of Rash and Sayyid’s increasing closeness and the respect that Rash has for him. When he is offered the opportunity to join Rash’s gang as a dealer he takes it. In the meantime Sayyid kisses Rashid while they are playing around. Initially repulsed at the idea of kissing another man, Rash tries to go back to his old lifestyle. However he finds himself changed and ends up going back to Sayyid and starting a relationship with him. Mo, growing suspicious that Rash is not in fact working, goes to Sayyid’s home to spy and sees the two men undressed and realizes what is going on. Angry at his brother, Mo continues to deal drugs and become further entrenched in Rash’s old gang. Eventually Rash finds Mo’s money and drugs. He confronts his former friends telling them that he will kill Demon in exchange for them allowing Mo to walk away from the drug business and his family to stay safe and unharmed. Upset that Rash has isolated him from his “family” Mo ends up telling Rash’s former girlfriend Vanessa that Rash is gay. She spreads it around the neighbourhood and Rash’s former friends give him the address of a house belonging to Demon which is actually a set up so they can kill Rash. However Rash manages to escape from the house.
The day after Rash’s escape some of his friends go to Mo and tell him that Rash was hurt killing Demon and is hiding out at Sayyid’s place. Mo goes with them but becomes suspicious when he sees plastic gloves, the kind that the gang uses for killings, hanging out of one of the men’s pockets. Mo leads his friend to the apartment adjacent to Sayyid’s. His friend pulls a gun on the woman who answers the door, and when she screams Rash and Sayyid come running out of his building. Mo ends up taking a bullet for Rash as his former friend gets in the car and runs away.
At the hospital Rash is approached by his parents who tell him that Mo will be okay and ask him to forget about Sayyid and come home. Rash refuses.
Sometime later when Mo has been released from the hospital he is approached by Rash outside the building where he lives. He and Rash have a brief conversation and he tells Rash that the family is fine and he doesn’t need to return. After they hug Rash walks off towards his new life.
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My Brother The Devil may not have any recognizable names to draw you in, but the trailer gives you a certain amount of intrigue. We see young love, violence, homosexuality and family. All together, the trailer sets you up and the movie knocks you out. Now, let’s see if that is supposed to mean something positive or negative shall we?
Our leads for this film are Rashid (played by James Floyd), the older brother part of a gang who is masking homosexual urges; his younger brother Mo (played by Fady Elsayed) who is a smart young man who likes to follow his brother like a puppy; Repo (played by Aymen Handouchi) who is one of the visible leaders of Rashid’s gang; and then you have Sayyid (played by Said Taghmaoui) who starts off as the man to help Rashid get out the drug business, but ends up also being the man who brings Rashid one step closer to coming out.
Which leads to me talking about the story. Most of the tale takes place around British project buildings as we establish the difficult life of immigrants to the UK who give birth to children who, in the movie anyway, have difficulty going straight and end up finding themselves giving into the easy money made dealing drugs. Enter Rashid and Mo. Rashid, seemingly, has been out of school for a while and has been making a living dealing drugs to help his Egyptian family which includes his brother Mo, mother, and father. For some time, it seems Rashid, or Raj, is very comfortable in his life. He has a beautiful girlfriend named Vanessa (played by Elarica Gallacher), a mate he seems rather close to named Izzi (played by Anthony Welsh) and Mo is doing well in school. Then, after Mo gets robbed by a rival gang and the beef between them and Rashid’s crew leads to casualties, Rashid looks to get out and he finds legit work through Sayyid and, from there, as Rashid looks to leave the game, Mo tries to take his place. Thus leading to Mo trying to walk his brother’s path, all the while his brother walking a road he has only veered onto when he let himself go.
Now, something I like about this movie is the fact it feels like when you watch it, you are watching multiple episodes of a series at one time. For, with it nearly being two hours, it can be a bit longer than I usually like, but it has decent enough pacing to keep you attentive. Also, I must note how good the performances are in the film. Mind you, I wouldn’t say these are BAFTA worthy performances which upset you or make you cry, but everyone feels like they were written to be authentic and the actors assume their roles really well.
But, with that said, I must admit there is a strong need for hard coded subtitles with this film. Be it because I’m not from the UK/Britain and don’t know much of their slang/ dialects, I did find it hard sometimes to really understand what the actors were saying. Also, as much as I loved how the movie felt like a show’s first few episodes mashed together, at the same time it can leave you a bit weary since it is rare for a film to be so long. Lastly, I must admit that I wanted to see and hear more about the cultures of the characters. It isn’t often we see Egyptian Muslims, and I would have liked to learn more about their culture, how they may handle homosexuality, how a kid born in modern times handles a religion which is seen as conservative, and I would have like to see more out of the cast’s cultures to. Be it the Nigerian character; Sayyid, who comes from France; and the many others which you can only assume because there is no definite cultures named. I feel, as good as the story way, there was still room to add more.
Overall: Rental
My Brother, The Devil may not be an urban masterpiece, but it does bring the type of intrigue which makes you wish the movie was just a pilot for a show. I say this since there is quite a large cast, each being part of some storyline not always fully developed, and at times it feels like we are only truly given a taste rather than a full course meal. Due to that, I would say this is a rental since it isn’t so good you have to show people you know, but I do feel it is worth watching to kill some time.
