Jay Weissberg Oliver Twist meets “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” in Ferit Karahan’s sophomore feature, “Brother’s Keeper.” Set in a snowbound boarding school on the eastern edges of Turkey, the film tells the story of a boy desperate to get help for his sick friend yet stymied at every turn by bullying teachers and corrupt administrators.
While Karahan (“The Fall From Heaven”) builds the narrative in a resolutely effective manner, ensuring the child’s increasing desperation gets under the audience’s skin, the scenario’s predictability and the stereotyped depiction of the adults impede emotional involvement.
Worthy in message and filmmaking prowess, “Brother’s Keeper” is ill-served by its lack of nuanced characters, which could hamper wider.
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