The Brotherhood of Justice 4K 1986 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

In response to student hooliganism, the school administration decides to form a law enforcement organization called the “Brotherhood of Justice.” Derek and his friends take the lead in heading up the “Brotherhood.” But the methods they choose to fight back are highly criminal: they pelt some with firecrackers, vandalize others’ cars, and even stab some with a knife. Things escalate to the point where they plant a bomb in Victor’s car—Victor is dating Derek’s girlfriend. Only the police have the power to stop this lawlessness.

Review 4K Movie

Santa Lucia High School. A high school attended by smart, academically successful teenagers. Many of them already know that the country’s top colleges await them. The chosen few, blessed with privilege, role models. But what do these smart, privileged kids think about theft, drugs, lockers with personal belongings vandalized with spray paint, car thefts, and vandalism in the school parking lot?

- Does the class representative have a motion to make?

- No. It just drives me crazy.

And then there’s the school principal, who doesn’t want to tarnish the image of his “high-level” school by stationing police officers in the hallways. He says, “We’ll handle this ourselves,” and delivers a speech to the school’s upperclassmen about how they must set an example for all the students who will follow them—for whom they will become role models...

- The wolves are already scratching at our doors. We can run. But we can also fight. The choice is yours.

And they make that choice. A little teenage fantasy “without brakes,” a bit of self-confidence, a bit of the principal’s inflated pride, and a solution is found—the boys of Santa Lucia High School imagine themselves as fighters against school crime and create the Brotherhood of Justice to punish those who break the law, the rules, and the peace of their “high-class” school life.

The film is certainly interesting: for its plot, characters, teenage psychology, and the theme of “how successful, smart, and promising students go off the rails due to the illusion of permissiveness.”

Not everything is as straightforward as it seems at first glance. Perhaps for Derek (Keanu Reeves) and his friends, it would have all ended with firecrackers set off at a party and a couple of hooligan pranks under the motto “Let’s restore order!” But as luck would have it, Derek finds drugs on his younger brother—drugs that are being distributed among kids at the very same school. And why go to the police or their parents with this, when Derek and his friends already have a solution they devised themselves to combat such things—the Justice League? Once you’ve tasted the sweetness of righteous retribution (you hit back—but for a good cause!), it’s hard to stop. And the reasons the kids use to add people to their list of those deserving punishment become increasingly far-fetched. But some of the guys aren’t able to realize this, because the role of righteous retribution has become all too appealing to them.

A film about teenagers, and the main cast consists of young actors who were just starting out at the time, whose names have long since become household names.

Billy Zane (Les) is great. His easily recognizable facial expression of a hidden psychopath with aggressive tendencies is a carbon copy of his characters from *Dead End*, *Titanic*, and other films. It’s the slightly mad smile of a guy who’s completely out of his mind. In my opinion, he excels at roles like this.

Kiefer Sutherland (Victor) and Keanu Reeves look worse. The former is known for playing villains, while the latter, thanks to his looks and charm, looks more natural in roles as good guys, which is why I kept wanting to swap them throughout the movie. However, even if it’s a stretch, Keanu as Derek is acceptable, since Derek isn’t entirely negative—he’s more of a guy who made a mistake and is remorseful about it. But I never fully believed in Victor’s goodness—Kiefer as Victor constantly inspires distrust, which should never be the case with positive characters.

The ending may be predictable for some, but that’s definitely not the case for me. For some reason, I was expecting drama, tragedy. In films like this, things usually end exactly that way. But the ending turned out to be unexpectedly “right.” In the black-and-white shots alternating with the closing credits, there is a certain very realistic and rather bleak moral lesson that, for some reason, has a greater impact here than a tragic ending might have. With the exception of the protagonist, Billy Zane, all the other guys seem like nothing more than foolish teenagers who got carried away playing games that were dangerous both to those around them and to themselves, and so the involuntary thought of what future awaits them is depressing. You feel sorry for them. It’s all fair, and that’s how it should be: you have to answer for your actions, even if they seemed like just a game to you... But I still feel sorry for the kids.

The film is interesting. It is relevant today, just as it was in the years when it was filmed, and I think it will remain relevant tomorrow, since the issues addressed in the film—issues of identity, coming of age, and the search for the fine line between not wanting to stand on the sidelines and permissiveness—are timeless. Recommended viewing, especially for a teenage audience.