Brotherhood: A Cinematic Musical is written, directed, and composed by Ross Boothe, and stars Mauricio Martínez, Casey Elliott, Gabriela Bañuelos, Charlotte Hemmings, and more.
The film focuses on two neighboring families in America who have two very different experiences of the American Dream. Jon and his family are lifelong U.S. citizens, while their Mexican immigrant neighbors, Fabián and his family, have spent more than a decade waiting for a decision on their asylum application. As their families grow closer amid a deeply divided country, both men are challenged to look beyond their differences and discover what it truly means to love their neighbor.
Going into this film, I had not heard of it at all until I was approached about covering it. I went in without seeing a trailer and with very little knowledge of what to expect, and I came out feeling torn about Brotherhood: A Cinematic Musical.
On one hand, this is a well-meaning film, and I think it’s going to resonate with a lot of people. At its core, its message is particularly relevant given the current political climate and the prejudice and racism we’re seeing. As a fellow Latino who has experienced plenty of moments of prejudice and racism, I’m not blind to what’s happening in the world. Whether you open your phone, turn on the news, or spend any time online, you’re constantly seeing stories about these issues, especially in recent years with ICE raids, people being arrested or detained, and families finding themselves in incredibly difficult situations simply because they came to this country in search of a better life.
Of course, there’s a lot of nuance to these conversations. There are people who have gone through the immigration process successfully, people who have spent years in that process and are still struggling to obtain citizenship, and people who simply don’t have the means to navigate the system. Immigration comes with plenty of different circumstances and experiences, and there’s no shortage of debate surrounding all of it.
Initially, the film plays with a fairly familiar dynamic between the two households. You have certain members of the white family who are more accepting, essentially saying, “They’re not too bad. They’re just a normal family like us.” Then you have Jon, the main character we follow on that side of the story, who is a little more hesitant. He doesn’t want to upset his white friends by associating with the Mexican family, and he’s reluctant to interact with people who speak a different language and come from a different background. Eventually, however, both families come to realize that they’re much more alike than they are different.
It’s a fairly traditional story about finding common ground and embracing our differences, and it’s all told through song.
There are elements of this film that work well. As I mentioned, its heart is in the right place. The characters are charming and endearing, and by the time you reach the end, there’s a genuinely nice story about unity, looking for similarities rather than differences, and embracing those differences as a way of bringing people closer together.
The cast, for the most part, understood exactly what kind of movie they were making. Mauricio Martínez and Casey Elliott, who play Fabián and Jon, respectively, are both solid in their roles, and the supporting cast does a good job as well. When it comes to the musical numbers, the vocal performances are undoubtedly one of the biggest standouts. Everybody who gets an opportunity to sing does a great job, particularly our two leads, who handle most of the singing throughout the film, along with some of the dancing.
With all of that said, the film is incredibly heavy-handed, and that’s ultimately what made me feel increasingly disconnected from it as it went along.
The message is clear. However, I found it a rather strange choice to tell this particular story as a musical, at least in the way it’s executed here.
I’m a sucker for musicals. I’ve covered plenty of them for The Latino Slant and on my own channel, and I’m open to all kinds, whether we’re talking about traditional show tunes, darker and more macabre stories like The Nightmare Before Christmas or Sweeney Todd, or something more unconventional like Better Man. I enjoy the genre when it’s done well, and I was open to what this film was trying to accomplish.
Unfortunately, I struggled with the lyrics in a lot of these songs. The movie is trying to communicate a very specific message, and it does so with such an aggressive lack of subtlety that some of the musical numbers come across as goofy or even a little cringeworthy. Some of the dialogue between characters is so on the nose that it doesn’t sound like something real people would say.
When it comes to musical numbers in a movie, you want them to feel rehearsed and choreographed, but you also want them to feel somewhat natural within the world of the film. You want to believe that these characters would break into song and that it makes sense within the context of the story. Here, both the musical numbers and many of the regular dialogue scenes felt overly rehearsed. Everything came across as a performance rather than something organic, and that was a big part of why I struggled to connect with the movie.
Some of the lyrics felt so hyper-specific in their messaging that I found myself laughing during the first two or three songs, probably not for the reasons the filmmakers intended. My wife was in the same room while I was watching, and at one point she asked me whether I was laughing because the movie was funny or because I wasn’t enjoying it. I told her I was struggling with it because so much of it was coming across as goofy.
That’s unfortunate, because some of the subject matter here is serious. As a Latino, watching a story about families facing the possibility of deportation, ICE raids, and characters being detained is naturally going to resonate with me on some level. There’s an emotional weight to those situations, and the film could have done a much better job allowing those moments to breathe. Instead, the way some of the musical numbers are presented undercuts the emotional stakes of what’s happening.
Honestly, there were moments where the whole thing reminded me of the kind of musical production a local church might put on to show its support for the Latino community, and I don’t necessarily mean that as a compliment. One scene that takes place in a church reinforced that feeling for me.
All in all, though, by the time Brotherhood: A Cinematic Musical was over, I didn’t dislike my time with it. I don’t think it’s a bad movie, and there’s an audience out there that will connect with what it’s trying to accomplish. I can appreciate the intentions behind it.
However, I also think plenty of people are going to roll their eyes at how heavy-handed its messaging and themes can be, and some might do the same with the songs, the lyrics, and certain conversations between the characters.
The actors are doing the best they can with the material they’re given. The vocal performances are good, and the musical composition and melodies are solid as well. From a technical standpoint, this is a competently made film. I just don’t foresee it working for most audiences, particularly those who prefer their storytelling to have a little more subtlety and nuance rather than having its message delivered as aggressively as possible.
Likewise, if you prefer films that tackle subject matter like this in a more serious and grounded manner, you might find yourself struggling when the movie suddenly breaks into song, especially when some of those songs feel more hokey than emotionally impactful.
At the end of the day, Brotherhood: A Cinematic Musical is a film with a good heart and a message worth communicating. There’s a story here that deserves to be told. I just wish the execution had been more effective, because the way it’s presented ultimately kept me from connecting with it as much as I wanted to.
Rating: 5.5/10