Film Review: ‘Blood Brother’ Has Genuine Spirit Despite Limitations

Submitted by BrianTT on November 28, 2013 - 10:22am

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Rating: 3.0/5.0

Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize in Documentary and Audience Award at Sundance 2013, Blood Brother is a film about a great Pittsburgh guy by the name of Rocky, who left America to create a new life in India. Over the course of three years, he became a rock star at a shelter for children with AIDS, caring for them in all manners, and creating strong relationships with them.

The film is made with a Rogen-on-Franco level bromance by Rocky’s self-proclaimed best friend, Steve Hoover. After sharing with us a brief overview of Rocky’s history as a soul from a broken family, Hoover then journeys to the shelter in India himself with Rocky, to make a travelogue into Rocky’s life and those who have changed it. During this time in the land, they undergo a whole spectrum of human experiences, understanding how a completely different part of the world exists.

Read Nick Allen’s full review of “Blood Brother” in our reviews section.

“Blood Brother” is a film with genuine spirit, a component that becomes a definitive aspect of its experience. By its setup it may seem like a typical college applicant “mission essay” (“I wanted to change them, but they changed me,” as the cliché goes) but its numerous amount of various shared experiences, and its dedication to sharing the stories of many children, show that film’s intentions are in the right place with such heavy moments of reality. For a good chunk of it, “Blood Brother” is a perfectly fine, hard-to-deny story - a good-looking, good-mannered American becomes superhero to adorable kids who themselves need a grand father figure, and they all encounter the strangeness of life in the process. There is something to be said about finding a good character for a film, as Hoover has in his friend. But there’s also something to enjoy about witnessing such uncommon selflessness.

This is Hoover’s film, but it is entirely from Rocky’s point of view. Hoover’s part in the movie, or the way that he presents himself, is that he just goes along with what is happening. But while Rocky’s tale makes for half of a striking narrative, Hoover’s own outsider experience seems as important too. After all, in more direct terms of documentary construction, he is the one who will ultimately be putting this work together (though it would certainly be interesting for a documentary director to let their subject play el capitan in the editing room). Interestingly enough, Rocky says at the end of the film that he has always wanted Steve to record his wedding. Steve certainly tells his buddy’s story with the same neutrality of a wedding video, not willing to dive into his subject or give dimension to him, but present things at the shinier face value. At the very least, a film project like “Blood Brother” makes for one hell of a memento gift for a guy to celebrate his friend’s accomplishments.

Continue reading for Nick Allen’s full “Blood Brother” review.

“Blood Brother” was directed by Steve Hoover. Screenings around the country are listed here and you can even click to bring a screening to your city.