Once Brothers (2010)

Sadly Over-hyped

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

MICHAEL WINTERS -- How can anybody take your review seriously with that kind of atrocious spelling! It is, however, in keeping with your general lack of knowledge of this period. Having had the pleasure of spending time interviewing Dino Radja during his time with the Celtics, and learning more about the political climate, as well as Vlade's outlook, I'm happy to conclude that you are wrong on all fronts. By all accounts, Divac was remorseful both at the time, and in the aftermath, and I'm not buying into your bluster about laying hard fouls on Drazen. The rest of the Croatian players - Kukoc in particular - have nothing to gain by attaching their name to the documentary if they felt it was disingenuous. Kudos to ESPN for looking outside of the usual headlines in this - and other - 30 for 30's.

Within sports there will always be stories – the season where the team came back from nowhere to win the title, the season where the team didn't lose a single game and so on, and to a certain degree these stories are captured forever in the stats. However within any season or match there will always be specifics and it is these that are the things people tell each other about in pubs and often this oral history is the main way these stories remain. This is why i have enjoyed many of these ESPN film because they do a good job of looking at the smaller stories behind the sports. With Once Brothers the film offered me the appeal of knowing the people involved but yet not knowing the story.It was the mid-90's when I started playing and watching basketball and I such I of course came to know the names of the European players such as Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc and others because they were excellent players, however by the time they entered my sphere of knowledge, the story of this film had happened already. And so it was I watched the film without knowing what happened to Drazen Petrovic or, at one point, quite what story I was being told. For the first half of the film we are filled in on the history of the young Yugoslavian team and how some of the stars from there came to the NBA. The story starts to focus on Divac (who has been our presenter and narrator) and his friend Petrovic, showing the early NBA careers of both – with Petrovic in particular capable of more than Portland was offering him.When the war breaks out the film then follows the fracturing between Divac and the rest of the team – in particular the death of the friendship with Petrovic and the importance of one interaction with a flag after a European match. This thread is followed until the tragic end to the story. The telling is really good throughout and the focus on Divac is a strength because he has a great warmth and is natural in front of camera – he may or may not be incredibly wealthy but he certainly doesn't come over like a spoilt sports star. His narration and his honesty makes the film compelling and, in addition to the details, it is quite moving. The presentation does add some stuff that the facts don't need – for example the sad music played over war footage felt like it was overegging it for no reason. Mostly though it is bang on the money; it shows some great footage from the Nets with Petrovic showing his quality against Michael Jordan and it makes the civil war in Yugoslavia easy to understand. The access to the players and the families is good and it really puts a human face on the story and it is sad that the two men never had a chance to come together having be torn apart by arbitrary political lines on a map.Well presented, engaging, moving and informative; this is a great film that tells a sports story I never knew – it benefits greatly from the warm honesty of Divac as presenter and subject.

Great documentary. And the perfect thing was that it was made by people that weren't and aren't from ex Yugoslavia. Once the most powerful sports country in the world. Which traces could still be felt in its former republics, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia... This documentary was made by a completely neutral producer and director. It is a fantastic and a sad life story that was told in a brilliant way. Why is war hell, what it does to you and your once brothers... Amazing and huge metaphor. Not to mention that it captures first return of Divac to Zagreb after the Yugoslavian war. Petrovic is a legend, and even for the people who never heard of him or never followed basketball and NBA, this documentary craftily tells the story and the back story. His father Serbian, and his mother Croatian, I can't even imagine what he went through during the war. I'm so happy that someone made this, it just had to be made! Brotherhood among people has no borders. No space for nationalism and racism. Once brothers, always brothers!

This was another sad-but-memorable episode in this series, a haunting one about the friendship and alienation between two great pro basketball players from Eastern Europe. Vlade Divic tells the story of he and his former best friend Drazen Petrovic, and what happened to that friendship. It's really sad.Yes, it's only told from Divac's side, but he comes across as an honest man. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed him.I don't want to give anything else away but this episode will tug at your heartstrings. It's a shame politics divides so many people.It's a bleak tale, but absolutely riveting.