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Once Brothers
Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were two friends who grew up together sharing the common bond of basketball. Together, they lifted the Yugoslavian National team to unimaginable heights. After conquering Europe, they both went to USA where they became the first two foreign players to attain NBA stardom. But with the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, Yugoslavia split up. A war broke out between Petrovic's Croatia and Divac's Serbia. Long buried ethnic tensions surfaced. And these two men, once brothers, were now on opposite sides of a deadly civil war. As Petrovic and Divac continued to face each other on the basketball courts of the NBA, no words passed between the two. Then, on the fateful night of June 7, 1993, Drazen Petrovic was killed in an auto accident. This film will tell the gripping tale of these men, how circumstances beyond their control tore them apart, and whether Divac has ever come to terms with the death of a friend before they had a chance to reconcile.
Release : | 2010 |
Rating : | 8.5 |
Studio : | NBA Entertainment, ESPN Films, |
Crew : | Cinematography, Director, |
Cast : | Larry Bird |
Genre : | Documentary |
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Reviews
Waste of time
Beautiful, moving film.
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
The biggest problem of this film is that is completely one-sided. While Vlade Divac is very much alive, Drazen Petrvic is very much dead, so we hear only one side of the coin. Divac, who appears as a friendly, jovial guy was indeed someone who mocked Petrovic's country and did throw the Croatian flag to the ground, and in a Lakers/Nets game did foul Petrovic in anger. So, now, 20 years later it's easy going down memory lane without admitting any guilt. Is he pretending to wonder what happened or is this a genuine blindness to one's own appalling behavior. Furthermore, the film doesn't present the political situation in a hysterically accurate way. The violence and breakup of Yugoslavia where masterminded by Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic in his quest for greater Serbia. Divac never acknowledges that...he simply regrets the war. If he was truly a great man, he would have apologized for his behavior and admitted shame for the behavior of his country.
I learned a lot in this movie, not only about the lives of Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac, but also of the political situation in the nation formerly known as Yugoslavia. I have always known who Drazen Petrovic was, but never to this extent. He has a work ethic that is comparable to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and he is arguably the best European player of all time in terms of talent. I especially love how the production crew went to Vlade Divac's hometown and involved other players from the Yugoslavia team, including Toni Kukoc. Their path and successes in the NBA is the icing on the cake. A must watch for any NBA fan or a fan of sports in general.
Great documentary. And the perfect thing was that it was made by people that weren't and aren't from ex Yugoslavia. Once the most powerful sports country in the world. Which traces could still be felt in its former republics, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia... This documentary was made by a completely neutral producer and director. It is a fantastic and a sad life story that was told in a brilliant way. Why is war hell, what it does to you and your once brothers... Amazing and huge metaphor. Not to mention that it captures first return of Divac to Zagreb after the Yugoslavian war. Petrovic is a legend, and even for the people who never heard of him or never followed basketball and NBA, this documentary craftily tells the story and the back story. His father Serbian, and his mother Croatian, I can't even imagine what he went through during the war. I'm so happy that someone made this, it just had to be made! Brotherhood among people has no borders. No space for nationalism and racism. Once brothers, always brothers!
This was another sad-but-memorable episode in this series, a haunting one about the friendship and alienation between two great pro basketball players from Eastern Europe. Vlade Divic tells the story of he and his former best friend Drazen Petrovic, and what happened to that friendship. It's really sad.Yes, it's only told from Divac's side, but he comes across as an honest man. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed him.I don't want to give anything else away but this episode will tug at your heartstrings. It's a shame politics divides so many people.It's a bleak tale, but absolutely riveting.