My Brother The Devil - Analysis

Crew:
Director - Sally Hosaini
Writer - Sally Hosaini
Producers - Gayle Griffiths & Julia Godzinskaya
Music - Stuart Earl
Cinematographer - David Raedeker
Editor - Iain Kitching

Cast:
Rashid - James Floyd
Mo - Fady Elsayed
Izzi - Anthony Welsh 
Sayyid - Said Taghmaoui
Hanan - Amira Ghazalla 

My Brother The Devil is a 2012 British film directed by Sally Hosaini. It is a social realism drama film and its main themes are love, hate, betrayal, family, violence and crime. The Production company for the film was Roots Nest Entertainment and the Wild Horse Films Company. The film earned $10,305 in the box office.  

The story is about two Arab brothers, living in Hackney. Mo idolises his older brother Rash, who is a businessman and a member of a gang as a drug dealer. He is able to use the money for family luxuries at home. This shows he is a caring person.
Mo is robbed by the rival gang and then calls Rash when he spots them at a corner shop. Demons (the rival gang leader) dog gets killed which makes him retaliate and kill Izzi, Rash's best friend. Rash gets a gun and heads to kill Demon but his little brother is there so Rash runs away. 
Rash grows close to Sayyid, a French photographer who was a friend of Izzi. He tells Sayyid that he wants to leave the gang which is when Sayyid offers Rash a job. 
Mo takes ups an offer to fill Rash's place in the gang when Rash ends up in an unexpected relationship with Sayyid.
Mo finds out they are together and tells Rash's former girlfriend that he is gay. She ends up spreading it around the gang. Someone gives rash details on Demons address which is actually a set up to kill Rash. However Rash does escape. 
Mo gets tricked into bringing members of the gang to Rash but ties to divert them when he sees a glove in one of their pockets. Mo ends up getting shot when he tries to protect Rash.
Rash sees Mo after he is release from hospital and they have a conversation. Rash walks away after they hug.

Love, hate and family are all themes that are shown together through Rash and Mo. Throughout the film they grow to hate each other. However they still love and care for each other when they look out for one another at the end of the film. For example, Mo protects Rash from being shot.

Violence and Crime go together hand in hand and are both shown throughout the entire film. This includes fighting, guns and drug dealing.

Betrayal is one of the main themes in the film and occurs a lot. Rash's brother betrays him when he finds out Rash is gay and also takes his place in the gang.
The gang also betrays Rash because they want to kill him after they find Rash is gay. 

Without mise en scene, the audience will not know what the film is about and where it is set. From the shots we can see graffiti on the walls and tall buildings that hold flats. We also see the people living there mainly wearing hoodies and tracksuits to try and blend in to the life of that area and try and stay within the mould that society there has created. Many of the props in the film are guns, drugs, knifes, alcohol and cigarettes. This shows it is a rough area because it connotes the violence and crime that is constantly happening there. 

The cinematography uses a handheld camera a lot to show the rough life of the people living there, and especially the main protagonists. this showed the audience how shaky their lives are living in that area and being surrounded by bad people. Many shots used are point of view shots, showing the audience what the characters see. This makes the audience feel closer to the characters in the film and see the plot through their eyes. 

Most of the cast in inexperienced but the acting within the film seemed very natural and not forced. James Floyd, who played Rash won an ward for best actor in this film. He would make the audience feel close to him because he can be relatable and his character was genuine.