My Brother The Devil- Film Analysis

'My Brother the Devil' is a 2012 British social realism written and directed by Sally El Hosaini, the film shows the life of two Egyptian brothers named Mo and Rashid who live in Hackney, East London. I thought the film displayed themes of prejudice due to ethnicity,age,love,family and sexuality. The Film also covers the main theme of 'living with crime' in modern day society as the older brother Rashid (who is originally highly involved in crime) try's to escape the life of crime as one of his friends is killed bringing him realisation of how serious and dangerous his lifestyle has become. We watch him attempt to prevent his brother following in his footsteps as he undergoes major predjudice from his former gang because of his sexuality.

Mis en Scene was key in conveying the change in the relationship between the two brothers through out the film, we begin with both characters wearing vibrant colours (pink and blue t-shirts) possibly representing how their relationship is positive as they are communicating and getting a long. As Mo finds out Rashid is homosexual we see the film become darker and pathetic fallacy is used to symbolise the deterioration of their relationship. In terms of cinematography many shots are used to again show how the brothers relationship changes through out the film. At the end of the film the two are captured in a warm looking environment with the flats behind them, i think this shows how even though they may not be able to immediately escape their reality due to lack of money (shown blatantly by the high rise flats) ,their relationship has improved and they now feel able to carry on with their lives as brothers due to Mo excepting Rashid's sexuality, shown by the warm comforting environment.

In conclusion i thought the micro features used in the film were very effective in delivering the message of self acceptance as we see the brothers finally make peace at the end of the film, and that Mo completely respects Rashid for who he really is. I thought as we saw the two brothers sitting facing different directions at the end of the film , it showed how even though there might of been differences between them ,they were both willing to accept each other for who they were, the close relationship of the two was also shown in the composition of the shot as they were positioned next to each over, symbolising their close brotherly relationship.