Two Brothers

Two Brothers (Deux Frères) is a 2004 adventure family film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It is about two tigers who are separated as cubs and then reunited years later. Set in 1920s French Indochina, two tigers are separated as cubs after the ancient temple where they live is disturbed by Aidan McRory (Guy Pearce), who intends to steal and sell the ancient statues.

McRory is an unscrupulous explorer, big-game hunter and temple looter. He discovers Kumal and befriends him, but McRory is arrested for stealing from the ancient temple and Kumal is kept by the chief in the Cambodian village where McRory had been staying. The chief then sells Kumal to a circus where he is to be the star attraction.

Sangha remains in the jungle with his mother, but both are soon trapped by McRory as game for a vain Khmer prince to hunt. The mother is shot in the ear and thought to be dead before she jumps up and runs off with a hole in her ear. Sangha is discovered by young Raoul, son of the French administrator, Normandin, and becomes the child's pet.

This film provides examples of:

  • A Boy and His Tiger
  • Adventurer Archaeologist - subverted
  • The Amazon - The jungles of Cambodia.
  • Ancient Tomb - More temple than tomb, actually, and more realistic than the average horror series setting, without any booby traps and undead.
  • Androcles' Lion - Or tiger, as the case may be. Actually, the two tigers become an Androcles' Lion for each other when they are forced to fight each other, and after a minute or so of serious fighting they realize they are siblings. They then change to play fighting instead.
  • Big Fancy House - The house of Normandin, and even more so the palace of His Excellency, a Khmer prince.
  • Cute Kitten - Tiger cubs, in this case.
  • Cambodia
  • Fake Nationality- Most of the French characters were played by French actors, excepts for the British Freddie Highmore as the Raoul.
  • The French Colonial Empire - The movie is set in French Indochina, with both a French administrator and local leaders running things.
  • Gladiator Games - Not with humans, but with tigers
  • Great White Hunter - Aidan McRory plays this straight in how he portrays himself in his books, but his actual character is closer to a deconstruction of the trope.
  • Green Aesop
  • I Will Fight No More Forever - McRory promises Raoul that Kumal and Sangha will be the last creatures he hunts.
  • No Name Given - His Excelllency, a local aristocrat.
  • Pet Baby Wild Animal - Sangha to Raoul and Kumal to McRory. Unlike many examples, they explicitly mention the fact that if the tigers go back into the wild, they will not be able to hunt for themselves, and may even end up preying on humans.
  • Sailor Fuku - Raoul wears a period male version
  • Shoot the Tiger - McRory kills the father of Kumal and Sangha after it attacks and fatally wounds one of his men, who in turn was about to shoot one of the cubs. McRory latter goes hunting for Kumal and Sangha because he believes that having been raised by humans will turn them into man-eaters after they escape to the wild.
  • Sleazy Politician - Both the headman of the Cambodian village and Normandin, the French administrator.
  • Tropey Come Home - Both played straight and inverted, depending on your point of view. From the point of view of Raoul and McRory, they let their tigers go instead of getting them back. From the point of view of the tiger's mother, she gets her offspring back.
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