During the course of this movie nothing remains like it appeared to be at the beginning. And I am not just talking the question who is truly suffering from Alzheimer's disease, but rather the relationship between the two brothers and their individual characters. Whereas at the beginning and the first half of the film Jakob is portrayed as being in every aspect the more capable of the two - this is especially stressed by flashbacks to their childhood -, in the course of events it becomes clearer that it is in fact Lorenz, the ne'er-do-well, who knows so much more about life. He is the one being able to call things by their proper name and when there is a life-threatening emergency he is the one to know the remedy. When at the very end it dawned on me with how much courage and acceptance of life he performed what must have been his ultimate aim, to re-unite his family again, this totally blew my mind. A movie that left me torn between crying and secretly, pretty warmly smiling at its main character, Jakob's brother. Thanks a lot, it's been a unique pleasure.
Review of Jakobs Bruder
