Brotherhood (2019 film)

Brotherhood is a 2019 Canadian drama film, written and directed by Richard Bell.[1] Set in the 1920s, the film recounts the true story of a group of youth at a summer camp on Balsam Lake in the Kawartha Lakes, who had to fight for survival when an unforeseen thunderstorm overwhelmed their canoe trip.[2] The film's cast includes Brendan Fehr, Brendan Fletcher, Jake Manley, Gage Munroe and Dylan Everett.[3]

Brotherhood
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Bell
Produced byMehernaz Lentin
Anand Ramayya
Written byRichard Bell
StarringBrendan Fehr
Brendan Fletcher
Jake Manley
Dylan Everett
Music byWilliam Rowson
CinematographyAdam Swica
Edited bySarah Peddie
Production
company
Industry Pictures
Karma Film
Distributed bylevelFILM
Release date
  • July 20, 2019 (2019-07-20)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Plot

In the opening scenes, Arthur Lambden, packs a photo of his son in his backpack and meets the young members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and their leader, Robert Butcher, on the path to Long Point, a camp on the shores of Balsam Lake in the Kawartha Lakes, which is located 145 kilometres northeast of Toronto. Both Butcher, who is the camp leader and Lambden, who is second in command, are veterans of World War I. Butcher tells Lambden that, while it was his first time operating a camping trip at Long Point, the group had camped at Clear Lake for many years. He told Lambden that the youth—whose fathers had died in the war or in the Spanish flu pandemic that followed the war—would benefit from being the rugged outdoors. Butcher is concerned that the boys of the generation that succeeded their own, were being, "feminized by their mothers and teachers." They begin their canoe trip late in the evening, and when their 30-foot war canoe is capsized during a sudden summer squall, drowning some, those that did survive spend the night in the frigid, dark lake waters clinging to the overturned canoe that is slowly sinking. The film flashes between scenes of the survivors struggling to ward of the freezing cold, and to fight fatigue and their fears, with lively, happy camp scenes earlier in the evening, of the boys engaging in camping activities designed for male bonding, creating a "band of brothers".[4]The movie focuses on the individual lives of some of the characters before the camping trip. George Waller played by Jake Manley, had an abusive father; Arthur Lambden, played by Brendan Fletcher, had survived the front lines in World War I only to return home as a carrier of the Spanish flu virus that killed his own wife and child; the two brothers—Will played by Sam Ashe Arnold and Jack played by Gage Munroe, whose father had been killed during the war; and Leonard, played by Matthew Isen, whose father had drowned just weeks before the camping trip and who feared water.[4] After surviving a harrowing night on the lake, only four remain alive and finally crawl onto the shores of Grand Island. They find makeshift paddles and return to Long Point.[4]

Cast

Filming

Principal photography on the film started in September 2017 in Michipicoten.[5]

Screenings

The film received a private theatrical screening for residents of the Balsam Lake community in July 2019,[6] which was also attended by provincial lieutenant governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell.[7] It began screening on the Canadian film festival circuit in the fall, including at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.[8]

Awards

Bell and Bramwell Tovey received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020, for the song "I've Got a Big One".

Reviews

A December 5, 2019 Globe and Mail review said that Bell had succeeded in "stripping back the mythos of what it means 'to be a man'." He showed how strong one can be under duress "while embracing compassion, vulnerability and love."[9]

The National Post called it a "powerful, fight-for-survival" film.[10]

The San Francisco Bay Times said the "scenes in the lake are artfully filmed artfully filmed" and that Bell created a "sense in the open water that alternates between claustrophobia and momentum."[4]

The Now Toronto review said that the film "nearly sinks" and that is was "less than the sum of its parts."[11]

Original Cin said it was "interestingly fashioned as a “lost generation” metaphor" with some "loose ends."[12]

References
  1. "Film recounts loss of 11 lives in Ontario summer storm". Toronto Sun '. July 15, 2019.
  2. Etan Vlessing (September 29, 2017). "'Revenant' Actor Brendan Fletcher, Brendan Fehr Join Indie 'Brotherhood'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  3. Richard Bell (director), Mehernaz Lentin, Anand Ramayya (producers) (July 20, 2019). Brotherhood. Canada: Industry Pictures, Karma Film. 96 minutes in.
  4. Kramer, Gary (July 16, 2020). "Gay Filmmaker Recounts Survival Story From 1926". San Francisco Bay Times. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  5. "Cameras roll on Brotherhood". Playback, September 9, 2017.
  6. Stevenson, Jane (July 15, 2019). "Film recounts loss of 11 lives in Ontario summer storm". Toronto Sun. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  7. Vanmeer, Pamela (July 14, 2019). "Hollywood comes to Balsam Lake for private screening of movie depicting true story of 11 boys who drowned there 93 years ago". Kawartha 411'.
  8. "Cinéfest 2019 sneak peek includes star-packed Vietnam war film and doc about victims of local pedophile priest". Northern Life. July 18, 2019.
  9. Donahue, Annie (December 5, 2019). "Film Brotherhood explores a forgotten Canadian tragedy with nuance and vulnerability". Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  10. Knight, Chris (December 9, 2019). "Brotherhood is a powerful, fight-for-survival story from Canadian director Richard Bell". National Post. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  11. Wilner, Norman (December 4, 2019). "Review: Brotherhoods exciting real-life thriller nearly sinks". NOW Magazine. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  12. Slotek, Jim (December 5, 2019). "Brotherhood: Legendary Kawartha tragedy stands as an unsteady metaphor for a lost generation of boys post WWI". Original Cin. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
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