“BROTHERHOOD”

Director: Will Canon

Run Time: 82 minutes

Cast: Arlen Escarapeta, Jon Foster, Lou Taylor Pucci, Trevor Morgan

Language: English

What do you do when you are torn between your allegiance to your friend and your allegiance to your family? What do you do when you know that the right thing to do (and the thing that could save your friend’s life) could also land your friend in prison and tear your family apart? These are the questions that Director Will Canon poses to the audience in his new film “Brotherhood.”

A riveting and emotionally relentless thriller, “Brotherhood” follows the story of the brothers of Sigma Zeta Chi as one of the Fraternity’s initiation rituals involving pledges robbing convenience stores turns from hazing to a full-blown shootout and crime spree in the blink of an eye. The plan was simple: the pledges would be driven to a convenience store where they would be goaded into running out and robbing the store. What the pledges did not know was that there was always a brother standing around the corner to prevent the pledge from actually committing the crime. It was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be an illusion. It was only a test to see whether the pledges were “man enough” to rob a convenience store.

But on this night, there was a grave miscommunication and Sigma Zeta Chi pledge Kevin (Lou Taylor Ricci) actually did try to rob a store. The ensuing gunfight got the Sigma Zeta Chi thief shot in the arm. This simple misstep set off a whole chain of criminal activity ranging from hazing to kidnapping to manslaughter as the brothers frantically tried to avoid jail by telling one lie after another and enforcing them with one felony after another. By the end of the film, the young men had learned a hard lesson in the follies of escalating commitment and sunk costs along with the dangers of peer pressure.

Throughout the ordeal, the leaders of the Fraternity (namely President Frank played by Jon Foster) used frequent appeals to the members’ sense of brotherhood and belonging in order to hold the group together without getting into trouble. Some of the most common threats and guilt trips included, “Don’t betray the brotherhood,” “Do not go to the police or the brotherhood will be ruined and you will be thrown in jail.”

The film’s many intense shouting matches between members arguing over the best way to handle each new problem demonstrated an excellent and thorough analysis of the sheer power of peer pressure and the influence of organized social institutions, like Fraternities and Sororities. For example, in one scene, Kevin’s best friend Adam (Trevor Morgan) adamantly insisted that Kevin be taken to a hospital immediately. However, after a yelling match with Frank in which the Fraternity President threatened to blame the failure of the Fraternity on Adam’s “over-hasty” desire to take Kevin to a hospital, these appeals to brotherhood unity convinced Adam to delay taking him to a doctor until they their medical-student friend saw him first. Such instances where peer pressure and instincts for self-preservation overrode logic continued to abound throughout the night as Kevin’s life continued to be put at risk by his failings. Though Adam, Kevin’s best friend, believed from the beginning that he should be taken to the doctor, the combined pressure from other members to delay the hospital visit and thereby save the Fraternity nearly cost Kevin his life.

Although the film centers upon some of the more notorious hazing practices of some Fraternities, I believe that the principals and dangers exposed by the film can be applied to all aspects of organized human life. For example, in corporations and in schools we often find ourselves having to decide whether to expose a corrupt or cheating friend, which may help them in the long run, or to “help” them in the short term by ignoring such offenses. We want everyone to win and no trouble to come to our friends. What keeps us going in our trap of escalating commitment is the driving hope that we can make the “best” solution work; the solution in which our friend is made better while the offending behavior is stopped. However, this is often difficult, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous to all involved as Kevin could attest firsthand.

Therefore I believe viewers should not be too quick to cast judgment on these young men when such situations are clearly difficult and universally applicable.

One of the things that made this movie so emotionally tense and powerful for me was my personal history with Greek life. As the former Risk Manager, Judicial Board Chairman, and Member of the Executive Board of my Fraternity for the last year, it was my job to manage our Fraternity’s liability and deal with any problems that did occur. It was a 24/7 job that required me to think through and plan for all of the scenarios presented in “Brotherhood,” and on several occasions deal with the immense pressure that came with combating Fraternity problems. Though none of the problems I faced rivaled the scale of those catastrophes faced by SZC in the movie, I still bore a tremendous amount of stress every minute of every day during my tenure. After all, as “Brotherhood” so effectively demonstrates, you never know when one little mistake could have dire, even fatal consequences.

One example that many college students may be able to relate to is the decision of whether or not to take a friend to the hospital for excessive drinking and alcohol poisoning. Though seemingly a clear cut case, deciding whether or not to make the hospital trip can be difficult when you are trying to balance the person’s legal and health interests, as well as the Fraternity’s and your own interests. The person may just be tired, drunk and just passed out, or they may actually have alcohol poisoning and die. Thus the potential outcomes vary greatly and this makes the decision all the more difficult. We as human beings try to maximize everyone’s outcomes but in the process often make things worse as the brothers of Sigma Zeta Chi found out the hard way.

In addition to the personal connection I felt to the film, I also enjoyed it because of the film’s use of sound and cinematography. Director Will Canon’s decision not to use any sound or music outside of the dialogue and real-life background noises strongly enhanced the palpable tension and suspense the audience felt for the entire length of the feature. By not using any music, the harsh, frantic exchanges between the young men of the Fraternity made the whole experience feel raw and sincere. It made me feel as if I was right in the midst of all of these problems, and combined with my history in these kinds of stressful experiences, I was on the edge of my seat debating the best course of action right along with the brothers. Furthermore, the cinematography further contributed to the feeling of utter chaos and desperation by rapidly cutting or panning from one scene or actor to another in choppy, rough, jolting movements in order to keep pace with the quick movement of the actors.

Thus “Brotherhood” could be summed up in three terms: escalating commitment, peer pressure, and self-preservation. Each principal fed off of the other two and created a viscous circle in which problems were unnecessarily created and compounded. The moral of the story then is to tell the truth, and not put oneself in the kinds of situations that facilitate such corruption.

Not only would I go see this movie in theaters, but I would also buy it on DVD and watch it every year to remind me of these important life lessons. Who knows, if more people take heed of the cautions in this movie then maybe we will not have to deal with the likes of another Bernie Madoff or Kenneth Lay in the future.

Reviewed By: Hunter Hodge