There's nothing subtle about the message in Two Brothers, another beautifully photographed, pleasantly paced nature-based film from Jean-Jacques Annaud, the French director of 1989's The Bear.
A postscript asks viewers to help fight the devastation of the worldwide population of tigers, down by nearly 100,000 in 100 years. And a late plot development has a key character laying down his arms instead of continuing his hunt for big cats. It's open advocacy for conservationism.
Annaud pleads his cause in appealing terms, a story that's a blend of 1930s jungle movies, Kipling and vintage Disney naturecentric films. Even more impressive: These beautiful, and, yes, dangerously unpredictable animals are real, not special effects creations. Several of the actors are photographed frighteningly close to the movie's nonhuman stars.
Two Brothers is a tale of tiger cubs, separated not long after birth in the wilds of Southeast Asia in the 1920s. The animals, seen frolicking in the jungle with each other and their parents, are forced to give up their idyllic way of life as the result of the arrival of a hunting party led by famous English adventurer Aidan McRory (Guy Pearce).
Kumal, McRory's favorite cub, becomes the "man-eating" star of a circus; there, he's beaten into leaping through rings of fire and performing other tricks. Kumal's brother, Sangha, meanwhile, winds up as a pet in the home of the region's French administrator (Jean-Claude Dreyfus). One nasty exchange with the family dog later (the bloody exchange is offscreen), and Sangha is shuttled off to a menagerie owned by royalty.
A decade later, the siblings meet again under terrible circumstances. Will they lovingly gaze into each other's eyes, recall their youth (via flashbacks) and fall into their old patterns of playfully nuzzling and cuddling? Observant viewers won't be surprised by the outcome.
Annaud and his co-writer, Alain Godard (Enemy at the Gates), introduce several intriguing subplots, including the colonialists' aspirations for Indochina and the possibility of a cross-cultural romance, but they fail to explore the possibilities. Still, there's little need for plot complications when Kumal and Sangha are ready for their closeups. In fact, why bother with humans at all? In Two Brothers, they're largely extraneous.
