35/22
Three members of an extended Afghan family restart their lives in Iran as refugees, unaware that they face a decades-long struggle to return “home”. I saw it at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Told in three stories, “In the Land of Brothers” manages to capture the essence, complications and heartbreaking scenarios of political conflict, relationships, culture and the harshness of reality. The filmmakers managed to capture the themes, tone and writing for each of the three stories with good emotions, interesting characters and moments that felt tense and depressing without feeling cheesy and overdone. Each character and the writing are handled with maturity and all the performances from the cast members are good. They really brought out the emotions between the characters and the core message and purpose of the film. The camerawork, production design and score are beautiful. There were touching moments and I felt sad watching it. Personally, the first and third stories remain the most impactful. While the second one has some flaws in pacing, it is still good. Overall, the film tries hard to be another good Iranian film.