Brute — Directed by Meceij Dejczer. — Drama. A British prisoner is sent to a Rumanian orphanage to work out his time. 90 minutes Color 1999.
* * * * *
A very interesting movie on all levels. Pete Postlethwaite, than whom no one can play anyone more cold, plays the head of the orphanage, and his rashness in cruelty takes that darling human attribute to a level of truly celestial excellence. John Hurt plays the defrocked doctor who executes mercy upon the children, and when he can’t do that, drinks, and when he can’t do that, plays the violin. He is wonderful. The children are hollow-eyed little devils, and the British prisoner, who comes to custodian the place, is forced to romance them into submission. He is played by Til Schweiger, who is handsome, sexy, and dangerous, and a wonderful actor of this part. He is the both the title and the focal figure here; his name is Brute and brute he is. A lovely orphanage worker works her way into his affections, in a part also well acted: by Ida Jablonska. The film is perfectly performed, written, directed, edited, and the story told is out of the ordinary. I was put off by the persistent red lens, which was intended to set the whole orphanage in Hades, but tended to put the film, there instead. Once I had found patience with that error, I tended to my business of following the Dickensian tale of this very solid picture and was content to wait my turn to find out how it in turn would all turn out. Check it out.
[ad#300×250]