''Two Brothers'' is a 2004

adventure drama film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Jean-Jacques Annaud Jean-Jacques Annaud (; born 1 October 1943) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed ''Quest for Fire (film), Quest for Fire'' (1981), ''The Name of the Rose (film), The Name of the Rose'' (1986), ''The Bear (1988 film), ...

. Starring

Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. List of awards and nominations received by Guy Pearce, His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, and nominations for an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Aw ...

and

Freddie Highmore Alfred Thomas Highmore (born 14 February 1992) is an English actor. He is known for his starring roles beginning as a child, in the films '' Finding Neverland'' (2004), '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005), '' Arthur and the Invisibles ...

, it tells the story about two

Indochinese tiger The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Southeast Asia. This population occurs in Myanmar and Thailand. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, including 85 in ...

brothers named Kumal and Sangha, who are separated from their parents as cubs and then reunited a year later as adults to find their way back home. It was distributed by

Pathé Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

in Europe.

Plot

Set in 1920s French colonial Cambodia, the story follows two Indochinese tiger brothers, Sangha and Kumal, born to a protective tigress and a male tiger killed by adventurer Aidan McRory. Separated as cubs, their paths diverge: Kumal is captured by villagers, sold to a cruel circus run by Zerbino and Saladin, and trained through abuse to perform dangerous stunts. Sangha, meanwhile, is briefly adopted by Raoul, the son of French administrator Eugene Normandin, but is later sent to a palace menagerie after a conflict with the family’s dog. McRory, a morally ambiguous hunter, becomes entangled in their fates. After failing to appease a vain Khmer prince with a counterfeit tiger skin (from the circus’s elderly tiger Caesar), he later discovers Sangha’s identity as the prince’s captive “ferocious” tiger. When the prince organizes a staged battle between Sangha and Kumal, the brothers initially clash but recognize each other mid-fight, reverting to playful cubhood antics. Chaos ensues as their trainers provoke them, leading to a violent escape. The reunited tigers flee into the wilderness, causing mischief in nearby villages. McRory and Raoul track them, but Raoul persuades Sangha to return to the jungle to avoid human threats. Kumal, recalling McRory’s past kindness, spares him before both tigers retreat to their ancestral temple. There, they reunite with their mother, identifiable by a gunshot wound in her ear from McRory’s earlier hunt. The trio finds peace in the wild, symbolizing resilience against colonial exploitation and captivity.

Cast

* Kumal as himself * Sangha as himself *

as Aidan McRory *

as Raoul Normandin *

Jean-Claude Dreyfus Jean-Claude Dreyfus (born 18 February 1946, in Paris) is a French actor, comedian, and author. He began his career in film acting in 1974 in the film ''Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard''. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal ...

as Administrator Eugene Normandin * Oanh Nguyen as His Excellency * Vincent Scarito as Zerbino *

Moussa Maaskri Moussa Maaskri () (born 15 November 1962) is an Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunis ...

as Saladin * Maï Anh Le as Naï-Rea *

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (; born 25 April 1963) is a French actress. She is the daughter of actor Philippe Leroy and model Françoise Laurent. She made her screen debut in the 1983 comedy-drama film ''Surprise Party (film), Surprise Party'', bef ...

as Mrs. Mathilda Normandin *Jaran 'See Tao' Petcharoen as The Village Chief *Stéphanie Lagarde as Miss Paulette *Bernard Flavien as His Excellency's Majordomo *Annop Varapanya as Sergent Van Tranh *David Gant as the Auctioneer *Teerawat Mulvilai as Verlaine *Somjin Chimwong as Napoleon *Nozha Khouadra as Mrs. Zerbino *Sakhorn Pring as Dignitary with Goldfish *Jerry Hoh as the Policeman *Juliet Howland as Auction Room Stylish Woman *Caroline Wildi as Auction Room Companion *Thavirap Tantiwongse as Photographer *Bô Gaultier de Kermoal as Circus Boy *Delphine Kassem as Fleeing Bathing Woman *Alan Fairbairn as Assistant to Auctioneer *Thomas Larget as Residency Butler *Hy Peahu as Dignitaries' Translator *Luong Ham Chao as Dignitary *Tran Hong as Dignitary *Chea Iem as Dignitary *Ngo Qui Yen as Dignitary *Mathias Ghiap as Residency Cook *Luong Hoan as Residency Servant *Saïd Serrari as Circus Boy *Gerard Tan as Circus Boy *Xavier Castano as the Butcher *Suban Phusoi as the Bus Driver *Christophe Cheysson as the News Stand Man * Mother Tiger as herself * Father Tiger as himself

Production

Around 30 tigers were used for the film, the majority from French zoos and others from Thailand.

Release and reception

''Two Brothers'' opened at No.9 with $6,144,160 in its opening weekend (25–27 June). The film earned a worldwide total of $62,174,008 by the end of its theatrical run against an estimated budget of €57,860,727, making it a box office success. ''Two Brothers'' opened in theaters in the United States by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

by 25 June 2004. It was released on DVD and VHS on December 21. The film received generally positive reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film holds a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

References

External links

* * * * {{Jean-Jacques Annaud 2004 films Thai-language films 2000s French-language films Films set in the 1920s French children's films Films directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud Films scored by Stephen Warbeck Films about brothers Films about friendship Films about tigers Films about hunting Films set in Cambodia Films set in jungles Pathé films British children's drama films 2000s children's drama films 2004 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films 2000s French films Films shot in Cambodia