Lukas & Abel: Wing Brothers – Brothers of the Wind (2015)

Directed by: Gerardo Olivaris, Otmar Penker | 98 minutes | adventure, drama | Actors: Manuel Camacho, Jean Reno, Tobias Moretti, Eva Kuen

‘Lukas & Abel: Vleugelbroertjes’, the somewhat awkward sounding Dutch title for ‘Brothers of the Wind’, is set in the breathtaking landscape of the Austrian Alps. It is a Dutch dubbed family drama that focuses on slightly older children (8 plus) who love nature and animals.

Filmmaker Otmar Penker has dedicated his career to capturing the beauty of the Alps and its furry and winged inhabitants. With director Gerardo Olivares, who previously united nature and family drama in ‘Wolvenkind’ (‘Entrelobos’), he joined forces to tell the story of the hapless teenager Lukas, who lives in the remote Austrian Alps with his father Keller. Since the death of his mother, which his father – unjustly of course – blames, he no longer talks to him. Keller’s profession doesn’t exactly help with the relationship either: he’s a hunter, while Lukas is an animal lover.

But ‘Lukas & Abel: Vleugelbroertjes’ starts with the introduction of the Abel from the title: a young eagle, who after birth not only loses his father, but is also thrown out of the nest by his slightly older brother. The chance of survival was already small, but now completely. Fortunately for the poor animal, Lukas finds him. He takes the animal under his wing, secretly, because his father is not allowed to find out and sets out to save the bird. He gets help from Danzer (Jean Reno), a forest ranger with a soft spot for Lukas (and also narrator of the story in a calm voice-over).

What argues for this family drama are the beautiful images of nature and animals. The authentic images show the wilderness of the Austrian Alps from very close up in all its splendor. It soon becomes clear what an immense task the crew has faced when seeing the close up images of the majestic eagles, both on the ground and in the sky. All seasons pass and the other inhabitants of the Alps – such as wolves, foxes, chamois and snow hares – are also shown in their full glory.

Unfortunately, the fictional drama and nature shots in ‘Lukas & Abel: Wing Brothers’ form a somewhat unhappy marriage. The story of the motherless boy and the development he goes through is simply too thin to be weighted in the film. It will be difficult for the viewer to keep their attention. There is no emotional connection and the coming-of-age drama is nowhere catchy, because it is so predictable and inconclusive. However, this Austrian production cannot be completely written off, because the nature shots are definitely worth a look.