Brother Number One

 

English and Media Studies

Film Abstract
- Synopsis & Trailer

Textual Analysis (Close Reading)
- Narrative
- Image
- Sound

Genre Analysis
- Media Categories
- Documentary as a Genre
- Documentary in New Zealand
- Brother Number One and Documentary Genre

Audience Analysis
- The film's audiences

Industry Analysis
- An industry context

 

Find all the clips referred to in this guide HERE

ABOUT THE GUIDE:

Brother Number One is a complex and evocative piece of filmmaking, combining the reconstruction of past events with a parallel journey in the present tense, and a contemporary court action. Drawing on personal memory, witness testimonies, archival images and documents, expert opinion and interviews with both the perpetrators and the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, the film is suggestive rather than didactic, allowing audiences to draw their own conclusions about a contested period of history.

Because of its complex narrative structure, challenging subject matter, and cinematic use of sound and image, Brother Number One is a rich and stimulating film text which rewards close textual analysis. Aspects of the film’s textual construction, including narrative, representation, soundtrack, cinematography and self-reflexivity provide engaging material for English and Media Studies students wanting to understand the ways in which visual and moving-image texts produce meaning.

Furthermore, as a contemporary example of documentary film making in New Zealand, Brother Number One, provides an opportunity for Media Studies students to investigate issues of film genre, industry and audiences within a local context.

*Please contact us if you are a teacher based in New Zealand and would like a copy of the Study Guide aligned directly to the New Zealand curriculum.