Brotherly Love (Dir. Jamal Hill) 2015
Brotherly Love is a gang crime drama with the themes of love, betrayal, family & class. The film was directed by Jamal Hill. Jamal Hill was born in New York but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The film Brotherly Love is based in Philadelphia so this film could be based on the directors experiences in Philadelphia. The budget of this film was $1.9 million dollars & it received $478,595 at the box office. Brotherly Love stars Keke Palmer (Jackie), Cory Hardrict (June), Quincy Brown (Chris) & Eric D. Hill Jr. (Sergio).
The film follows through a family's struggle. June, a former basketball player gave up his dreams to become a basketball star after his dad died & ended up dealing drugs to provide a decent life for his mother & two siblings. He is protective over Sergio & Sergio's twin sister Jackie. He provides them enough money to follow their dreams. June's former dreams of becoming a basketball star is now in the hands of Sergio. There are other issues in the film regarding territory. Those who live up on the hill are seen as richer whereas at the bottom of the hill they are seen as poorer. June & his family live at the bottom of the hill. The only time the two sides mix is when they're at high school. Jackie meets Chris in high school & he seems to have an interest in her however because he is from the top of the hill, there are problems between June & Chris. Jackie falls in love with Chris.
The film has elements of action because there are fights with guns which keeps the audience enticed. It's hard to tell who is "good" & who is "bad" in this film because they are all doing the same things. This film gives the audience a perspective of what life is like for some people. It tells us that there are reasons behind why some people deal drugs, why some people start a life of crime. If June's father didn't die, he would not have walked down the road of crime, instead he would have become a professional basketball player, he would have been in college however he sacrificed his own dreams just so his brother & sister's dream could come true.
Marcus Lee Graham gave this film a 1 star out of 5 because he felt the film was too cliche. Keke Palmer has played many characters in different films/tv shows & in majority of them she played an aspiring singer & this is what Marcus talks about he. He claims that in many films that are about black people, black females tend to be aspiring singers. Another thing he says is that it's stereotypical for a black male character to be a drug dealer in these films. This I can understand however what Marcus doesn't see is the story behind it. In my opinion this film is not putting black males in a bad light, I believe that this is something that happens often because people don't have any choices. June wanted to be able to give his family a lavish life, he didn't want them to struggle. He wasn't dealing drugs because he was selfish & this is what we have to think about. People have responsibilities & they will do whatever they can to take care of those responsibilities.
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