Dos Hermanos (Brother and Sister)

Daniel Burman’s “Dos Hermanos” is the story of the inextricable mix of emotional need, complementality, hatred, dominance-subservience between a brother and a sister, living in Buenos Aires in the dusk of their lives, based on the Sergio Dubcovsky's novel, "Villa Laura".

Playing the domineering, egoistical, dramatic, flambuoyant, manipulative, talkative, extrovert and irresponsible elder sister Susana who is always buying and selling properties and who pretended to the world that she is a professional in real estate is Graciela Borges and in the role of the good natured, even tempered, sensitive, patient, caring, submissive gold and silver smith introvert younger brother Marcos is Antonio Gasalla.

The Argentian film, the seventh by Burman, opens with a scene in which we find Marcos taking care of their mother Neñeca, washing her hair tenderly, explaining patiently to her how mobile phone roaming service work and how it does not work if one runs out of battery etc. But shortly afterwards, she dies. Nobody came to the funeral. It transpired that Susana, did absolutely nothing to notify their mother's friends and relatives, including in particular one auntie Laura, whilst Marcos did everything including arranging for the funeral, washing her, getting the death certificate etc.

We are next shown Susana trying to buy a new property but forgot her purse. She called up Marcos and told him to look for it everywhere but not finding it, she postponed making a deposit followed shortly afterwards by another one in which she is pressed to take up a property for which she paid the deposit but never bothered to complete. The agent said if she did not close the deal, she would lose her entire deposit. The property was in Uruguay. So we next find the sister and brother in a broken down house there. Marcos set about the arduous and tedious task of putting the house in order, doing up the walls, the blinds, the kitchen, buying furniture and generally making it habitable whilst Susana occupies herself in establishing new contacts and buying new clothes etc. and making herself look beautiful and advertises the house in which they had been living for sale and stealing mail from their neighbor by using a wire coat hanger to sweep the mail from underneath the slit at the bottom of the door of their neighbor so as to increase the size of her social networking over which she prided herself.

As time went on, Marcos manages to find time to look after his own interest, as an actor. He finds acceptance in a drama club and demonstrates his ability to speak with emotion, finds a chess playing companion, although her sister tried to put him down again and said he had no talent in that regard but instead recommended herself for the leading role for the heroine in the drama Oedipus which the director wanted to mount, barging in rudely and without any prior notice of her arrival right in the middle of a session of the drama class, as if all the world should make way for her.

In the end, the drama was a success and her brother was the centre of attention and she applauded from the balcony in her gaudy dress and pointing to him and anouncing proudly to those around her that that was his brother although as usual, she was late for the performance. Is the role of the chorus played by Marcos not a comment on the plight between him and her sister? Are they not struggling blindly against their own ties in blood? Are all their talk and conduct not just so much posturing, gesturing and role playing like a blind Oepidus (Marcos loving the mother but hating her sister and having to constantly lie to make things smoother but not his sister who is in a position of competition with her mother) and not a little tragic and ridiculous?

As the film closes, we see the brother and sister reconciled. They were standing side by side, looking at the river in front of their house in the evening sunset. Shortly before that, she had said the meanest things about his brother following which without any further word, her brother simply picked up his things and lived on the other side of the river despite her repetition that she was sorry and would apologized. We see her pains at the loss.

I like particularly one scene in which each of them would pick up a drinking glass, place it against a wall and would report what he or she would hear as if it were something they heard from the other side of the wall when in fact, it was merely their peculiar way of talking to one another about what was really in their own mind but was afraid to say to the other openly and which probably was an original way they had invented as children to talk to each other about something which was bothering them in their relationship and which they thought the other should know.

I also like another scene in which Susana brought Marcos to a consular cocktail under false pretenses in which Susana helped Marcos to pick up all the delicacies they could not afford into a huge leather shoulder bag carried by Marcos for consumption at home later and the two of them stealing their way past a corrdior at the basement.

It was a film done with great sensitivity, with plenty of juicy conversation which shows the pettiness and meanness and also the tension between hatred, jealousy and genuine affection of the numerous irritiations they inflict upon each other in their crazy and effusive love-hate world. The photography was sumptuous. It is also a film full of tiny ironies and humor. As it is a South American film, there is always the lively and rhythmic music which one has come to expect from the Latinos. The acting from the two veterans is simply superb. It is a supremely enjoyable film. The screen credits are tastefully done to scenes of tap dancing, which ties in perfectly with  the new-style Oedipus play which rounded up the film. I would give it a 2 A. 

.