''Brother 2'' () is a 2000 Russian

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

written and directed by

Aleksei Balabanov Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov (; 25 February 1959 – 18 May 2013) was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and Film producer, producer, a member of European Film Academy. He started from creating mostly arthouse pictures and music videos ...

and starring Sergei Bodrov Jr.. It is a direct sequel to the 1997 film ''

Brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

''. The film is set in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. ''Brother 2'' received mostly positive reviews from critics, praising the acting, plot, setting, and soundtrack. The film is considered an integral part of

Russian culture Russian culture ( rus, Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii, kʊlʲˈturə rɐˈsʲiɪ) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and both Eastern cultu ...

and has had a strong influence on the development of Russian cinema.

Plot

The film opens in

with Danila Bagrov ( Sergei Bodrov Jr.) and two of his friends from the army, Ilya Setevoy ( Kirill Pirogov) and Konstantin "Kostya" Gromov ( Alexander Dyachenko), being interviewed on TV about their service in the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

. In the corridors of the television center, Danila meets pop singer Irina Saltykova. Ilya works for the

State Historical Museum The State Historical Museum () of Russia is a museum of History of Russia, Russian history located between Red Square and Manezhnaya Square, Moscow, Manege Square in Moscow. The museum's exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that li ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...

while Kostya works in the security department of a bank. After the interview, Kostya reveals that his twin brother, Dmitry, is an ice hockey player for the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

and is being extorted by American kingpin Richard Mennis (Gary Houston). Kostya tells Danila that Mennis has come to Moscow to meet with the head of the bank Kostya works for, Valentin Belkin ( Sergei Makovetsky), to discuss a business proposal. Later, Danila meets up and begins an affair with Irina. Meanwhile, Danila's brother Viktor, who has moved to live with their mother, makes his way to Moscow to meet Danila. The next morning, Kostya approaches Belkin and pleads him to talk to Mennis about Dmitry. Belkin brings up Dmitry to Mennis, but they both decide that this is of little concern to them. Belkin instructs his assistants to "deal with" Konstantin so that he does not interfere and spoil his relationship with Mennis, but they, having misunderstood Belkin, kill Konstantin. That evening, Danila stops by Kostya's apartment to discover him shot dead and decides to help his twin brother. Danila and Ilya begin planning their revenge. On the black market, they purchase a CD with personal information about Belkin and buy

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era weapons and a World War 2-era submachine gun and grenades from the black market. Meanwhile, Viktor has arrived in Moscow and manages to find Danila in the museum. He agrees to go to America with Danila and helps them steal a car. Danila and Viktor make first contact with Belkin at an elite gymnasium where Belkin's son studies. Danila introduces himself as a new teacher and pulls Belkin aside to a private office for a discussion. There Danila interrogates Belkin at gunpoint, but he completely shifts the blame onto Mennis. He discloses that Mennis is involved in criminal operations including drug trafficking and snuff videos. Danila spares Belkin. Later, Belkin warns Mennis, telling him about the incident with Danila, and sends him a photo. With the help of Ilya's friends, Danila and his brother secretly obtain foreign passports with visas. To avoid capture, the brothers fly to America separately, and Viktor arrives in Chicago without any suspicion. Danila instead takes a flight to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

where he arrives in

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach ...

. There, he buys a cheap car to travel to Chicago by road, but it breaks down just outside Pennsylvania. Stranded, he hitches a ride to Chicago with trucker Ben Johnson (Ray Toler). Danila arrives Chicago without a car, without a weapon and almost without money. There, he meets a Russian prostitute, Dasha, nicknamed Marilyn. Back in Moscow, Belkin is still determined to catch Danila. Learning that Viktor was on board the flight to Chicago, he alerts the Ukrainian mafia there to find him. Meanwhile, Viktor arrives to the Ukrainian Village of Chicago and quickly begins to spend his money on entertainment. Danila attempts to meet up with Dmitry and Viktor, but is unable to make contact with both. Wanting to talk to Dasha, he goes to the neighborhood where she works, but ends up in detained by the police after getting into a fight with the pimp's men. Having found Dmitry Gromov, Danila finds out the address of Mennis's office from him. Contacting Dasha, Danila asks her to arrange a meeting with an arms dealer. Using a homemade gun, he wounds the dealer in the face and steals a weapon. Then, in Dasha's apartment, he kills her pimp and the bandits accompanying him, who came to avenge the dealer. After this, Danila and Dasha finally meet Victor; sitting by the fire, the three discuss life - Dasha, without much enthusiasm, talks about her years spent in the USA; Danila suggests that Dasha fly home to Russia; Victor, on the contrary, admires America. The next day, Danila first hits Mennis's front, a local club, and kills the guards there. Danila discovers that Mennis wasn't there, but the frightened director of the club gives Danila all the money from the safe and tells him where to find Mannis. Viktor picked up a tail by the

Ukrainian mafia The Ukrainian mafia ( Ukrainian: Українська мафія) is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating in Ukraine. Such organizations are regarded as one of the most influential types of organized crime coming o ...

, draws them away and kills their hitman, but not before learning of the mafia's operations and headquarters. The next morning, Danila reaches Mennis's office. Having killed the guards, he finally confronts Mennis. Danila returns the money he took to Dmitry, the brother of his deceased friend. Dmitry is reserved in his gratitude and starts talking about the accrued interest. Danila tells Dmitry that he is very similar to his brother. Danila and Dasha take a taxi to the airport, but the car stops at a police line in the Ukrainian Village; one of the onlookers says that a certain Russian came to a Ukrainian restaurant and shot the local mafia. The police storm the building and drag Viktor out, and he joyfully shouts that he surrenders and wants to stay in America. Danila calls Ben and asks for help; Ben takes them to the airport in a limousine disguised as first-class passengers, dressed in expensive clothes. Danila and Dasha, who were deliberately late, manage to quickly go through the procedures and board a plane, which immediately flies to Moscow.

Cast

Production

Filming

The scenes in the United States were partially filmed in Chicago's Ukrainian Village. Belkin's car is a black Austrian

Steyr 220 The Steyr 120 Super, Steyr 125 Super and Steyr 220 were a series of Mid-size car, medium-sized cars built by the Austrian firm Steyr-Puch, Steyr-Daimler-Puch from 1935 to 1941. The moderately Streamliner, streamlined body was designed by technical ...

convertible from 1938. The blue

Cadillac Coupe de Ville The Cadillac DeVille is a model name used by Cadillac over eight generations, originally to designate a trim level of the 1949 Cadillac Series 62 and later for a standalone model in the brand range. The last model marketed specifically as a '' ...

that Danila buys in the film was purchased by the film crew in New York for $1,000. The truck that Ben drives is a classic

Peterbilt Peterbilt Motors Company is an List of American truck manufacturers, American truck manufacturer specializing in the production of heavy-duty (Truck classification#Class 8, Class 8) and medium-duty (Classes 5–7) commercial vehicles. The names ...

379. During filming, the heavy truck was driven by actor Ray Toler himself, who later recalled this as the hardest role in his life. Before filming Danila's fight in the Chicago ghetto, Balabanov asked the two black actors to hit Bodrov harder so that everything would look natural. By accident, the actors broke two of Bodrov's ribs. In November 2017, Colta.ru published a long interview with Svetlana Bodrova, the widow of Sergei. According to her, television journalist and former colleague of Bodrov,

Alexander Lyubimov Alexander Mikhailovich Lyubimov (; born June 23, 1962) is a Soviet and Russian television journalist, producer and presenter. He was one of the founders an independent television company VIDgital, VID (17.14%). Director General of the TV compa ...

, almost disrupted work on the film. Initially, the scene in which Bagrov comes with Ilya and Kostya to the Ostankino television center and then gives an interview was supposed to be filmed in the studio of the '' Vzglyad'' program. According to the script, Lyubimov was supposed to appear in it as a presenter, playing himself. He promised to help the filmmakers organize filming, but then unexpectedly refused to participate in the project the day before and did not provide them with a studio. Ultimately, it was decided to film the scene in the studio of the ''V mire lyudey'' program of the TV-6 channel with starring as the presenter.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack consists of popular songs from contemporary

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Ukrainian rock artists, such as

Splean Splean () is a popular Russians, Russian rock music, rock band, formed in Saint Petersburg in 1994.Андрей Бурлака. Рок-энциклопедия. Популярная музыка в Ленинграде – Петербурге. ...

Bi-2 Bi-2 is a Belarus, Belarusian alternative rock band, formed in 1988 in Babruysk, Belarusian SSR. During their career, Bi-2 achieved international success in Eastern Europe. Bi-2 was named the Best Rock Act at the MTV Russian Music Awards in 20 ...

Zemfira Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova (, ; born 26 August 1976) is a Russian rock musician. She has been performing since 1998 and has been popular in Russia and other Post-Soviet states, former Soviet republics. To date Zemfira has sold over 3 million ...

, Smyslovye Gallyutsinatsii, Chicherina,

Okean Elzy Okean Elzy () is a Ukrainian rock band. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. It is the most famous and successful Ukrainian music band. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received ''Fuzz Maga ...

and

Nautilus Pompilius The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect logarithmic spiral, equiangular s ...

. The pop-star Irina Saltykova being one of the important characters, there are some of her songs in the soundtrack. The latter is partly a reference to the soundtrack of the original ''

'', which consists entirely of Nautilus Pompilius' songs. The soundtrack includes "Lafayette" performed by American band Sleeping For Sunrise. # "Бай-Бай" (''Bye-Bye'') — Irina Saltykova (O. Molchanov, A. Slavorosov) # "Полковник" (''Colonel'') —

(Shura Bi-2, Lyova Bi-2) # "Счастье" (''Happiness'') — Bi-2 (Shura Bi-2, Lyova Bi-2) # "Солнечный друг" (''Sunny Friend'') — Irina Saltykova (O. Molchanov, A. Slavorosov) # "Варвара" (''Varvara'') — Bi-2 (Shura Bi-2, Lyova Bi-2) # "Огоньки" (''Twinkles'') — Irina Saltykova (P. Andreev) # "Искала" (''I Was Searching'') —

(Zemfira Ramazanova) # "Ту Лу Ла" (''Tu Lu La'') — Chicherina (Yulia Chicherina) # "Гибралтар" (''Gibraltar'') —

Vyacheslav Butusov Vyacheslav Gennadievich Butusov (; born 15 October 1961) is a Russian singer-songwriter and composer. He was the lead singer of Nautilus Pompilius (band), Nautilus Pompilius and U-Piter. Since 2019, he has been playing in his group "Orden Slavy". ...

(Vyacheslav Butusov, Dmitry Gunitsky) # "Дорога" (''The Road'') — AuktsYon (Leonid Fyodorov, Dmitry Ozeretsky) # "Кавачай" (''Kavachay'') —

(Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Pavlo Hudimov) # "Вечно молодой" (''Forever Young'') — Smyslovyie gallyutsinatsii (Sergey Bobunets, Oleg Genenfeld) # "Коли тебе нема" (''When You Are Out'') — Okean Elzy (

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk Sviatoslav Ivanovych "Slava" Vakarchuk (; born 14 May 1975) is a Ukrainian musician, politician, public activist and soldier. He is the lead vocalist of Okean Elzy, a rock band in Ukraine. Vakarchuk is a formerBrussel" (Brussels). In 2015, Vak ...

) # "Розовые очки" (''Pink Glasses'') — Smyslovye gallyutsinatsii (Sergey Bobunets, Oleg Genenfeld) # "Линия жизни" (''Life Line'') —

(Aleksandr Vasilyev) # "Секрет" (''The Secret'') — Agata Kristi (Gleb Samoylov) # "Никогда" (''Never'') — Vadim Samoylov (Vadim Samoylov) # "Город" (''The City'') —

Tantsy minus Tantsy Minus () is a Russian rock band founded in 1995 by . The group has won the Golden Gramophone Award The Golden Gramophone Award () is a yearly national Russian music award, established by Russian Radio in 1996.p. 241, ''Pop culture Ru ...

(Vyacheslav Petkun) # "Катманду" (''Kathmandu'') — Krematoriy (Armen Grigoryan) # "Иду" (''I Am Going'') — Tantsy minus (Vyacheslav Petkun) # "Земля" (''Earth'') — Masha i medvedi (Denis Petukhov, Maria Makarova) # "Lafayette" — Sleeping for Sunrise (Blake J. Zweig, James Konczyk, Jay Ranz) # "Погляд" (''The Sight'') — La-Mansh (Dmytro Tsyperdiuk) # "Прощальное письмо" (''Farewell Letter'') —

and Children's Choir led by M. I. Slavkin (Vyacheslav Butusov, Dmitry Umetsky) # "Стюардесса Жанна" (''Jeanne The Stewardess'') — The Metropol Restaurant Orchestra (Vladimir Presnyakov Jr., Ilya Reznik, Aleksandr Starobinets)

Reception

Critical response

'When sequels start appearing, that's a healthy sign ... Two major risks have left Brother. Natural environment has gone - the alleys of Saint Petersburg, the bazaar on the

Sennaya Square Sennaya Square or Sennaya Ploshchad ( rus, Сенна́я пло́щадь, p=sʲɪˈnːajə ˈploɕːɪtʲ, t=Hay Square, links=yes) is a large city square in Central Saint Petersburg, located at the crossing of Garden Street, Moskovsky ...

- a spot-on depiction of the new times. Only the story was left - honest, straightforward and not new, just like our hero. «Immorality» that served as the main attraction in Brother, paradoxically combining the frankness of

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

with zombie-like killings, is also gone. What's left is spirituality: the Orthodox values, «The power is not in the money, but in the truth», violence - not because it's as easy as brushing teeth, but because there's injustice in the world - and thus one must fight ... A strong movie, not boring to watch.

makes films the only way possible: like we are living in a healthy country that produces 150 movies yearly. And while it's not true, and there's a clean field around him, and he is taken almost for a savior who carries his cross alone, we should react to this film adequately: calmly, without hysterics, just like a normal cinema requires.' 'Our answer to James Bond and other "anti-Soviet Cinema",’ “Brother 2” was ‘ideological...playing ‘to the fears of its national audience...the first manifestation of Russia's new snobbery towards the US,’ the Itogi weekly's reviewer wrote. Its central character was ‘a) cute and b) clever ... war creates a special kind of childish killers ... The search for national identity ... only leads to unwarranted xenophobia.' The film was criticised for being too Russo-centric and in extreme cases the elements of racism and nationalism. For example, the semi-criminal portrayal of the African American community, the deceiving Russian-American Jew (who sells a bad car) and the Ukrainian mafia. The latter criticism in particular often refers to the toilet scene when Viktor finishes off his opponents in cold blood remarking: "''You bitches will answer to me for

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

!''" referring to the sensitive topic on the ownership of that city. Ukrainians are also called '' banderovets'' by Viktor (''e.g.'' when he arrives at the airport), which does not appear in English subtitles. Albeit those scenes have clear humorous overtones.

Censorship

In 2015, the

Ukrainian State Film Agency The Ukrainian State Film Agency (), known in short as ''Derzhkino'' (), is the central executive body of cinematography in Ukraine. It was created in 2011. Pylyp Illenko was the agency's chair from August 2014 until his resignation in August ...

banned ''Brother 2'' from being shown in the country because, according to agency experts, the film contains scenes "that are humiliating for Ukrainians on a national basis, as well as due to the incorrectness of showing this film during the aggression in the east of the country."

Possible sequel

After the release of ''Brother 2'', Balabanov said in an interview that he refused to film a third film, believing that the story of Danila Bagrov had outlived its usefulness, and it was necessary to move in a new direction. Bodrov later took up directing and was not interested in reprising the role. However, he did not completely rule out the possibility. Yet later on he hinted at a possible third part while answering a comment on the official ''Brother'' website which suggested to "send Danila to the

Second Chechen War Names The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...

and kill him". Apparently in 2002 he released ''

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

'' where Bodrov played a supporting role of Captain Medvedev. In 2001, Bodrov directed a criminal drama entitled ''

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

'' which was compared by critics to Balabanov's dilogy. Bodrov himself appeared in an episodic role of a nameless New Russian — according to Bodrov himself, a cameo of his Bagrov character. In 2014, Viktor Sukhorukov announced his desire to make ''Brother 3'' and dedicate it to the memory of Balabanov and Bodrov. He said that he had long planned the sequel and was full of ideas for the new story which had been rejected by Balabanov during his lifetime, including Viktor being broken out of an American prison by Mexicans and returning to St. Petersburg in an oil trawler. In 2019, it was reported in Russian media that musician and showman Stanislav Baretsky was planning to shoot '' Brother 3'' with a completely new crew and cast, including ex-prisoners. This caused a negative reaction from fans, Bodrov's relatives, Viktor Sukhorukov, Irina Saltykova, and CTB producer Sergei Selyanov who stated that his company would never give film rights to Baretsky and that they might sue Baretsky at one point. In 2021, began filming ''Brother 3''. Despite the name, it is not related with Balabanov's films. In June 2022, Pereverzev said that Baretsky's idea turned out to be a "dastardly fake" that got out of control, which confused many about who was making the film. In response, in November 2023, Baretsky criticized Pereverzev's film idea, saying that it was impossible to film the third part of the brother without the participation of Bodrov. At the same time, Baretsky noted that he further plans to film '' Zhmurki-2'', and did not further mention his idea for ''Brother 3''.

Legacy

The video game ''

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Based on Mike Pondsmith's ''Cyberpunk (role-playing game), Cyberpunk'' tabletop game series, the plot is set in the fictional metrop ...

'' contains direct references to the film; namely, Bagrov's monologue in Mennis's office.

Literature

*Florian Weinhold (2013), ''Path of Blood: The Post-Soviet Gangster, His Mistress and Their Others in Aleksei Balabanov's Genre Films'', Reaverlands Books: North Charleston, SC: pp. 66–90. *Susan Larsen (2003), "National Identity, Cultural Authority, and the Post-Soviet Blockbuster: Nikita Mikhalkov and Aleksei Balabanov." ''Slavic Review'', vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 491–511.

References

External links

*
''Brother 2''
on Russian Film Hub * {{Aleksei Balabanov 2000 films Russian crime drama films 2000s crime action films 2000 crime drama films 2000s Russian-language films Ukrainian-language films Films about organized crime in the United States Films about the Russian Mafia Films directed by Aleksei Balabanov Films set in 1999 Films set in Brooklyn Films set in Chicago Films set in Moscow Foreign films set in the United States Films shot in Chicago Films shot in Moscow Films shot in New York City Films shot in Pittsburgh Russian sequel films 2000s English-language films English-language crime drama films English-language crime action films