This confident and engaging debut from Sally El Hosaini will find favour amongst indie audiences for its intimate and stylish portrayal of two teenage Britsh-born Egyptian brothers making their way through life on an East London estate. While many standard gangster plot lines are invoked in My Brother the Devil to keep the tension at a maximum, with varying degrees of success, it’s the development of a major character ‘twist’ which will subtly disarm viewers moving it into rarely ventured masculine terrrain. Expertly shot entirely on location, the fresh outstanding performances perfectly compliment the raw and hyper realist scripting.
El Hosaini’s coming-of-age story set under the grey skies and tower blocks of Hackney brilliantly understate the feeling of permanence, immobility and, ultimately, frustration in older brother Rashid (James Floyd) who we first encounter in the opening sequence finding release in the Gym. His indentity and esteem, for the moment, satisfied with membership to the local gang peddling drugs and defending their turf. Looked up to by his younger sensitive brother Mo (Fady Elsayed), who is enamoured with the ease in which he sustains his precarious existence all the while placating their traditional Eyptian parents. Even down to stuffing extra cash into their mother’s wallet, Rashid is essentially a good guy getting by. The violent death of a fellow gang member, however, causes a rethink and provides a catalyst for Rashid to find solace and a new direction with worldly photographer Sayyid (Said Taghmaoui). Perhaps, best remembered from the fantastic French hit , La Haine, there are echoes of that character here, as we see him older and wiser. He takes Rash under his tutelage where the bond awakens their sexual desire. Dejected, Mo turns to the life vacated now by his distant brother and sets in motion a series of damaging stories about his older brother.
Perhaps the greatest feature of the film is how El Hosaini weaves wonderfully small and essentially simple subplots and assigns them to a fantastic cast of natural performers all engaged with their environment. First rate too is the dialogue, true to life and uncompromising, to the point where it may slighly alienate foreign audiences. But aove this is a wonderful first feature full of ambition, vision and sympathy for its likeable characters.
Director: Sally El Hosaini
Writers: Sally El Hosaini, Aymen Hamdouchi (script consultant)
Stars: James Floyd, Fady Elsayed, Saïd Taghmaoui
Runtime: 111 min
Country: UK
Film Rating: 
