"Die Kinder meines Bruders", which means "My Brother's Children" is a German television movie from 2016, so this one will have its 5th anniversary next year, and it is safe to say that this is neither a particularly new or old movie at this point now. Maybe things look differently when you read this review some years from now. The script is by Austrian Robert and East German Josephine (von) Thayenthal and my first guess that this is a father-daughter team was wrong apprently as these two are a couple. For the woman, it is her very first writing credit, while Robert is really experienced and has been part of the industry for decades. I must say I am always a bit skeptical if one only gets to be part of a project because of how close they are with somebody else, but here the outcome is okay, at least for a first career effort let's say. Like most other German films, this one here runs for almost 1.5 hours and occasionally it is still shown on television. The man in charge behind the camera here is Ingo Rasper and he had also been directing films for over a decade when he worked on this one here, probably not hist most known effort. The cast does not really include big names, but German film buffs may have come across Rott, (Anna) Thalbach, Knizka, Löbau , Harder and perhaps even some of the others. Some faces are easy to recognize here. Rott even received some awards recognition here, which is not too usual for a film like this and while he wasn't too bad (except early on maybe), this is definitely still a bit much I'd say. He plays a man living a bit of a spontaneous life without duties and obligations while still having the money to buy a little boat if he is in the mood for it. But things change quickly when from one day to the next he hears that his brother died and the consequence is that, at least for a while, he helps out on the man's farm and also takes care a bit of his brother's kids. At the same time, he has to juggle the fact that his girlfriend is pregnant, which he does not know right away (but we do).
There were some aspects in here that I liked and that made it obvious that this is not one of the uncountable truly horrible movies. Just take the pregnancy I just mentioned. They easily could have handled this in a cringeworthy way that would have surprised us just like the male protagonist and included this really out of nowhere. Still I wonder where was birth control with this couple, especially if he really does not want any kids. Sadly, one of the film's weakest moments is also linked to this plot, namely when the woman says she made a decision and he responds something that implies he is 100% sure she will have an abortion. Why would he even think so. I don't know the woman one bit and I would not be so sure. So the two are separated from that moment on, but the filmmakers (or writers) were sadly not courageous enough to pull through with that story line and at the end they meet again and it is implied that they could get together again. At least they left it at that and did not include an embarrassing kissing scene or so. The end when it comes to the two people you see on the poster was nice. The boy needs some schooling if he really wants to keep the farm and run it in the long term and this is what he gets then. In a worse movie, the central character (played by Rott) would have started to run the farm himself, but like he says he is not made for the job and he doesn't see himself there, so it really makes sense that he decides to quit and considers selling it when he did not know about his nephew's plans for the future. Said nephew was played by Max Hegewald. Not the greatest casting choice here honestly. With a better actor, this could have been a better film I'd say. It still offers enough insight into the struggles of farmers really to make enough money for a living. And it is also easy to understand for audiences (including myself) who do not much about the subject because one character summarizes it prety accurately that if they do not get enough money for the milk to even make a very basic living, then it is simply not accurate and things need to change. The strike in the end as alright, not too showy, but felt authentic and I also liked the way in which the cop was written. He appeared here and there and definitely felt authentic and realistic how an actual cop would have handled the situation. Also the romance story was not too bad and that is always a challenge for these films that run in the afternoon here in Germany. Some of them are incredibly kitsch and unrealistic. Not so this one here. The screenplay may not reach any great heights quality-wise (it feels it isn't even trying), but the lows this film certainly has are not as frequent and as low for me to give it a negative recommendation. 3 stars out of 5 overall, decent watch and I must say I was certainly positively surprised here because I expected way worse. Also good that they did not desperately try to get in comedic moments. It simply would not have fit the premise and story overall. Solid achievement.
There were some aspects in here that I liked and that made it obvious that this is not one of the uncountable truly horrible movies. Just take the pregnancy I just mentioned. They easily could have handled this in a cringeworthy way that would have surprised us just like the male protagonist and included this really out of nowhere. Still I wonder where was birth control with this couple, especially if he really does not want any kids. Sadly, one of the film's weakest moments is also linked to this plot, namely when the woman says she made a decision and he responds something that implies he is 100% sure she will have an abortion. Why would he even think so. I don't know the woman one bit and I would not be so sure. So the two are separated from that moment on, but the filmmakers (or writers) were sadly not courageous enough to pull through with that story line and at the end they meet again and it is implied that they could get together again. At least they left it at that and did not include an embarrassing kissing scene or so. The end when it comes to the two people you see on the poster was nice. The boy needs some schooling if he really wants to keep the farm and run it in the long term and this is what he gets then. In a worse movie, the central character (played by Rott) would have started to run the farm himself, but like he says he is not made for the job and he doesn't see himself there, so it really makes sense that he decides to quit and considers selling it when he did not know about his nephew's plans for the future. Said nephew was played by Max Hegewald. Not the greatest casting choice here honestly. With a better actor, this could have been a better film I'd say. It still offers enough insight into the struggles of farmers really to make enough money for a living. And it is also easy to understand for audiences (including myself) who do not much about the subject because one character summarizes it prety accurately that if they do not get enough money for the milk to even make a very basic living, then it is simply not accurate and things need to change. The strike in the end as alright, not too showy, but felt authentic and I also liked the way in which the cop was written. He appeared here and there and definitely felt authentic and realistic how an actual cop would have handled the situation. Also the romance story was not too bad and that is always a challenge for these films that run in the afternoon here in Germany. Some of them are incredibly kitsch and unrealistic. Not so this one here. The screenplay may not reach any great heights quality-wise (it feels it isn't even trying), but the lows this film certainly has are not as frequent and as low for me to give it a negative recommendation. 3 stars out of 5 overall, decent watch and I must say I was certainly positively surprised here because I expected way worse. Also good that they did not desperately try to get in comedic moments. It simply would not have fit the premise and story overall. Solid achievement.
