Director: Steve Hoover
Stars: Rocky Braat, Steve Hoover
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Synopsis: BLOOD BROTHER focuses on Rocky Braat and a group of orphaned HIV positive children. Leaving behind everyone he knows and loves in America, Rocky impulsively decides to move to India and dedicate his life to an orphanage with children suffering from HIV.
It takes a special kind of person to give up everything they know, move half way across the world, and dedicate their life to helping others. BLOOD BROTHER prevails in depicting an authentic and raw account of Rocky Braat’s story. The documentary is powerful and moving, at times testing you as a viewer. Following Braat and his dedication to the children suffering from HIV makes you feel a sense of responsibility. Seeing the suffering and harsh reality you can’t help but feel attached to these children who are complete strangers.
The documentary is an intimate portrayal of Rocky, a young man from a fractured family, who travels to India with no real plan. The trip changes his life, moved by a visit to an orphanage with HIV positive children; he makes an impulsive decision to move to India and live with the kids. Rocky returns to America for a visit, his best friend Steve Hoover accompanies Rocky back to India to understand the sudden changes brought about in his friend’s life. The events that unfold bring joy, frustration and genuine compassion and respect to Rocky, it takes a certain strength to watch so much suffering and be unable to do anything about it.
This documentary is honest, never hiding or showing an idyllic perspective. One of the most shocking and challenging moments to watch shows Rocky taking a man and his young daughter to hospital, unable to reach in time the young girl sadly passed away. You see Rocky grieve and it reveals the reality of the life he has chosen. Every day is scary, but Rocky sees only his duty to the kids. His best friend Steve is honest in his account of the trip; he details his personal feeling, expressing some of the ignorance concerning AIDS we are all guilty of. He explains his fear of touching or getting to close to the children. As the documentary develops you see that fear is no longer a personal and selfish emotion. Fear becomes a feeling attached to the amazing children on screen, that a terrifying disease will cut their lives far too short.
Steve Hoover’s filmmaking aesthetic has a great way of making you feel a closeness to all the wonderful children he meets. It doesn’t feel contrived or send you into a feeling of guilt; Steve does well to show his own ignorance but slowly reveals a selflessness that shows this disease is more than a warning to isolate yourself.
BLOOD BROTHER is a must-see documentary, winning the US Grand Jury Prize Documentary & Audience Award US Doc at Sundance Film Festival 2013.
[usr=5] BLOOD BROTHER makes its Sky Atlantic debut on Wednesday June 18th. For all our Sky Atlantic Documentary Season coverage, please click here. It’s also available on Sky’s On Demand services, and through Sky’s multiplatform TV service Sky Go.
