The Sisters Brothers based on the book by Patrick DeWitt - Eight out of 10

The Sisters Brothers based on the book by Patrick DeWitt

Eight out of 10

The Sisters Brothers, in spite of the somewhat amusing title, is a rather violent adventure – with elements of western- motion picture, which debuts with the shooting and killing of a few men and the burning down of a stable where many horses are suffering – one of them would be running in flames – and Eli Sisters, one of the main characters portrayed by the marvelous John C. Reilly, tries to enter the inferno and perhaps save one or a few animals.

Later in the film we would learn that this is actually a complex personage, forced to enter this life of crime, murder, by the fact that his more troubled brother, Charlie Sisters aka the fabulous Joaquin Phoenix, had killed their father, to whom the younger brother refers with worry, stating that given the parent’s mental illness, they could very well be afflicted and become crazy.

The Sisters Brothers are trying to catch up with a gold prospector, chemist and inventor, Hermann Kermit Warm, played by the talented Riz Ahmed, who seems to have discovered a formula that helps in the process of finding gold – although Charlie jokes with his sibling and talks about the many crooks that are travelling and selling their fake, miracle cures and the fact that their boss, The Commodore, has fallen for this magic trick, the compound that shows you the money aka the gold.

Hermann is followed by the detective John Morris, in whose role we see the wonderful Jake Gyllenhaal – he has partnered with Riz Ahmed on the spectacular Nightcrawler recently -, who writes about how easy it is to find a person with the Gold Rush…”just follow the gold and soon you find what or whom you are after”

The Sisters Brothers stop in the town of Mayfield, named after the proprietor of the major establishment in the place, where the two protagonists stop, Charlie drinks too much as is his habit incriminated by his partner, while the latter indulges into a sort of fetish and role playing with a woman who is made to say lines he likes, with the look and attitude he indicates, only to be attacked by a group of thugs which they eliminate with great shooting skill.

Meanwhile, John Morris befriends his prey, then handcuffs him, only to be attracted by the manner of his target and his utopic philosophy – Hermann Kermit wants to use the proceeds from the gold he would find with his invention to establish a falanster, a society with pure democracy and idealistic rules.

Hence the two become not just companions, but partners in a business enterprise and John Morris sends a message to his bank to transfer some money to San Francisco, their new destination, having abandoned his initial job of finding and delivering the chemist to the Brothers, who would then torture the captive until he spills out the formula that The Commodore wants.

Charlie would want to replace their patron, but for the time being they chase and try to locate the fugitive and the detective that had switched camps, looking for them in California and falling prisoners into the hands of the enemy, just as Morris and Warm are in their turn attacked by rogue fighters.

With two men facing many more, Hermann Kermit evidently less gifted in shooting than in chemistry, it looks like the battle would be lost, until Charlie insists that they be freed and then would use his tremendous skills as a gun fighter to overwhelm and kill the attackers and then join the former enemies.

The battle lines have been redrawn again, The Brothers Sisters seemingly joining the opposite camp and eventually face yet another murderous squad sent by The Commodore to punish all of them now.

Eli becomes very close to Hermann Kermit and shares secrets with him, mentioning the habits of his brother, the fact that he had been into trouble and the way of the West was then to perpetually take revenge – once one member of the family would be killed, a brother, father would come to duel, kill the guilty party and this would continue- so he had to protect his younger sibling.

One night, as they use the potion that shows were the deposits with gold are in the river – which they had blocked using stones and cut trees – they are exalted, exuberant in the first place, enjoying the seemingly numerous nuggets they would collect, until the reckless Charlie does again something really calamitous.

He wants to take another barrel of the useful formula, but this is also very toxic and dangerous and it is too late when the other three shout at the irresponsible character, who is the first to suffer the burns from the deadly liquid, then the others are hurt and John Morris is in such a state the next morning as to be necessary for Charlie to hand him a pistol.

At about the same time, the horse of Eli dies and he is surprised to have been so affected by the death of the animal, although we had seen his sensitivity and tenderness for the gentle creature before, after it had been attacked by another bear and his head had to be covered with a rug.

The Sisters Brothers had clashed, with Charlie hitting his elder brother in a restaurant and then claiming he had not known about it, being in a state of absolute drunkenness and suggesting that Eli hit him too and in public – when this happens, he falls to the ground and then admits he knew what he had done.

There are more confrontations and other characters die, though it would not be necessary, indeed even nice, to reveal what happens up to then end.

This is not Rio Bravo, but it is a good, solid motion picture, with excellent performances, challenging, intriguing personages.