21 Brothers

2011
3.7| 1h35m| en| More Info
Released: 04 September 2011 Released
Producted By: Factory Film Studio
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

21 Brothers tells the story of the Canadian 21st Battalion as they prepare for the battle of Courcellette in WWI. Taking place in real time, the film follows Sgt. Reid as he must get his men ready for the impending battle. Not only must he prep his battalion Sgt. Reid must also deal with the day to day difficulties of Life in the trenches, including injuries to his men, supply issues, and an underage recruit who has recently been sent into the front lines.

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Factory Film Studio

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  • Top Credited Cast
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Tom Sinclair as Pte. Matheson

Reviews

oodyrejid this movie is so poor ... The version I watched had even had the title changed(from "21 Brothers" to "1914") which actually made things worse...it gave me the impression that the movie was actually set in 1914, well, would YOU suppose that a movie entitled "1914" is actually set in 1916...........? Foolishly assuming that the title meant the year the film was actually set in, found me criticising the fact that the troops were wearing helmets, which weren't in use until 1916, also being critical of the fact that they were Canadian, and of course in 1914 the Canadians were not on the Western Front, then add in the ludicrously inaccurate representation of the trench, which at most must have been 18 inches deep, which might possibly have prevented the men manning that sector from being shot in the ankles, but would have provided no other protection at all, especially since the sides of the "trench" had no supports, revetting or strengthening whatsoever, and would have collapsed with the first artillery hit, or even after the first heavy rain......... there's no signs of any kind of communication, support or supply trenches, in fact the "troops" are basically overweight actors in a shallow ditch in a meadow in summer, and anything less like bitter, desperate frightened men in a frontline trench in the midst of the bloodiest land war in history would be difficult to imagine.......let's ignore the mediocre acting for a moment, the over-excessive use of the f--- word which was quite inappropriate and not really representative of the time, when the Sergeant happily sat down with his lieutenant for a drink and chatted with him using his first name I lost patience and gave up watching such dross.........I cannot imagine any instance of a senior NCO in the British army in any year of the Great war taking such liberties in the presence of even a junior officer..... my friend who has also seen this movie actually expressed all you need to know about it in one sentence........."this is'nt the worst war movie I'd ever seen, but it IS in the top one............."
michaeljharrison2003 Please do not make the same mistake as me and buy this professionally packaged film, unless you want to watch 10 overweight Reenactors mess around with a video camera for a couple of hours. Personally I managed 20 minutes, and then had to stop watching.Do not buy , unless you are curious to see just how bad it is. I would welcome comments from anyone involved in this amateur dramatics to justify how it can be on the shelves of shops.I see on the film info page here that it has an estimated budget of $4000,000 .Don't make me laugh. The budget of the film looks like it wouldn't even have come to the price i paid for the DVD.
Garrell Claujon I checked out this film after reading about it in the Globe and Mail. Here is the review by Globe and Mail critic John Doyle."Among the truly important programs is 21 Brothers (it's on video-on-demand across Canada this weekend), made by Michael McGuire of Factory Film Studio in Kingston Ontario. The full-length movie is a "faux" documentary that chronicles Canada's 21st Battalion as the troops prepare for the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on Sept. 15, 1916. The idea was to document the build-up to the battle in real time, and it was filmed in one long take – recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records recently as the "Longest Uncut Film in the world," running 91 minutes and eight seconds. It's not showy or preachy; it's a vivid, meaningful portrayal of young soldiers and officers who are homesick, terrified and brave."JOHN DOYLE The Globe and Mail Published Saturday, Nov. 10 2012
foxinbc I'm not a big fan of writing up 'reviews' as they are only people's opinions and should be taken as such. I certainly could not have produced a movie like this and I applaud these young guys in making a film with limited funds about a subject which defined Canada as a nation...Like our neighbours to the South, we should fly the flag a lot more.. However, if we are to portray in film the suffering and hardship of a Canadian Battalion at Courcelette on the Somme and the sheer hell of life in the trenches then an accurate depiction must be attempted in every way. Very clean uniforms/webbing, in-accurate trench system, the VERY heavy use of the word f..k (rarely said by soldiers in that day and age) The cliché'd depiction of a soldier with shell-shock escaping over the top only to be retrieved by his mates, just made me sigh. The Canadians fighting in September of 1916 at Courcelette did so in thick mud and heavy rains !! There was neither in this movie.. Sorry, but I just feel that if we claim to depict what our Great Grandfathers went through then we've got to get it right..