Two Brothers
Encyclopedia
Two Brothers is a 2004 adventure family film
Family film
A family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families.In December 2005, Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial came first in a poll of the 100 Greatest Family Films. The genre today generates billions of dollars per annum.Family...

 directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Jean-Jacques Annaud is a French film director, film producer and screenwriter.- Biography :Annaud was born in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne...

. It is about two tigers who are separated as cubs and then reunited years later.

Plot

Set in 1920s French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....

, two tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

s are separated as cub
Cub
A cub is the young of certain large predatory animals such as bears, lions, wolves, and big cats; analogous to a domestic puppy or kittenCub may refer to:* Cub, a member of Cub Scouts* Cub player, a member of certain sports teams, e.g...

s after the ancient temple where they live is disturbed by Aidan McRory (Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...

) who intends to steal and sell the ancient statues.

Two tiger cubs are playing when one (later named Sangha) comes upon a young civet
Civet
The family Viverridae is made up of around 30 species of medium-sized mammal, including all of the genets, the binturong, most of the civets, and the two African linsangs....

. Sangha chases the civet into its burrow and the mother civet appears and chases Sangha up a tree. The other tiger cub (later named Kumal) appears and chases the mother civet away. Gunshots are heard, and the tigress arrives to protect the cubs. She picks Sangha up and runs for safety. Kumal follows, but can't keep up and falls behind. The cubs' father appears, but the men have caught up with them and he is shot dead by McRory.

McRory is an unscrupulous explorer, big-game hunter and temple looter. He discovers Kumal and befriends him, but McRory is arrested for stealing from the ancient temple and Kumal is kept by the chief in the Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

n village where McRory had been staying. The chief then sells Kumal to a circus where he is to be the star attraction.

Sangha remains in the jungle with his mother, but both are soon trapped by McRory as game for a vain Khmer
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...

 prince to hunt. The mother is shot in the ear and thought to be dead before she jumps up and runs off with a hole in her ear. Sangha is discovered by young Raoul, son of the French administrator, Normandin, and becomes the child's pet. However, Raoul's mother's dog, Bittsi, a schipperke
Schipperke
A Schipperke is a small Belgian breed of dog that originated in the early 16th century. There has been a long informal debate over whether this type of dog is a spitz or miniature sheepdog.- Description :...

, is a constant antagonist to the young tiger.

Kumal is trained by cruel circus ringmaster Zerbino to do tricks, such as jumping through a flaming hoop. Sangha meanwhile dwells peacefully with Raoul until he is at last cornered by Bittsi following a prolonged chase. In self-defence, Sangha attacks Bittsi, badly wounding although not killing him. This provokes a hysterical reaction from the household, particularly Raoul's mother, who insists that Sangha has "got the taste of blood now" and gets rid of him. As a result, he is made a part of the prince's palace menagerie, where he quickly gains a reputation as a ferocious beast. Sangha and Kumal are now very close to each other.
The prince then decides to hold a festival in which a battle between two great beasts - the brother tigers - will be the centerpiece. When placed in the cage before the audience during the festival, the two brothers do not immediately recognize each other, and Kumal is afraid to fight. However, when the brothers finally recognize each other they begin to play together instead of fighting,and the audience likes this but the trainers don't. The trainer attempts to antagonize the tigers into fighting, but as he opens the cage to shoot one, the tigers escape, managing to frighten the trainers and the audience into the cage themselves.

The two tigers escape, and McRory is determined to hunt them down. After Kumal showing Sangha how to jump through fire to escape, McRory and Raoul find them. However, as McRory takes aim at Sangha, Kumal appears, and demonstrates that he remembers the sweets McRory used to give him. McRory puts down his gun and vows never to hunt again.

The two brothers make their way back to their temple home in the jungle where they meet up with their mother (who can be identified by the hole in her ear). Just before the credits, some comments to save the tigers (as a species) are shown.

Cast

  • Guy Pearce
    Guy Pearce
    Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...

     as Aidan McRory
  • Freddie Highmore
    Freddie Highmore
    Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...

     as Raoul Normandin
  • Jean-Claude Dreyfus
    Jean-Claude Dreyfus
    Jean-Claude Dreyfus is a French actor. He began his career in film acting in 1973 in the film Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal of a butcher in the black comedy Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet...

     as Administrator Eugene Normandin
  • Oanh Nguyen as His Excellency
  • Vincent Scarito as Zerbino
  • Moussa Maaskri as Saladin
  • Maï Anh Le as Naï-Rea
  • Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu
    Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu
    -Life:After spending her childhood in Italy, she went to Paris at 16 to study drama - against the advice of her parents; her father is the actor, Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu. After appearing on the stage, she made her screen début in Roger Vadim's 1983 film Surprise Party...

     as Mrs. Normandin
  • Kumal
  • Sangha
  • Mother Tiger
  • Father Tiger

Production

Around 30 tigers were used for the film, the majority from French zoos and others from Thailand.

Release and reception

Two Brothers opened at #9 with $6,144,160 in its opening weekend (6/25-27). The film earned a worldwide total of $62,172,050 by its theatrical close on September 9, 2004.

The film holds a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.
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