Once Brothers

Movie

2010

1h 19m

English

Documentary

User Score:

8.3

Watch on Netflix

Once Brothers

Movie

2010

1h 19m

English

Documentary

Watch on Netflix

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.

WATCHMODE

8.3

IMDB

CRITIC SCORE

n/a

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Available in 1 other country.

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Cast

Himself

Himself

Himself

Directed By: Michael Tolajian

Written By: Michael Tolajian

Featured Comments/Tips

rnhaas says...

7 months ago

This is a compelling, moving portrait of what it was like to be from an upstart country in a sport, shocking the world, and what it was like to be an early European player in the NBA, and what it’s like to have your country torn apart by civil war. It’s also a compelling portrait of the loss of a young athlete. Unfortunately, the narrator is also the lead interviewee, which not only makes the film awkward – from a technical standpoint, how does a narrator introduce himself? – but leads to easy accusations of bias. I have no idea if it’s biased or not, as I didn’t care about basketball until years later, and I am no expert on the Yugoslavian wars. But, regardless, it’s a poor choice to have Divac both narrate and be an interview. That choice undermines what might otherwise have been one of the best films in the series.

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Galileo5 says...

8 years ago

For me personally it is the best sports documentary of all time. Drazen Petrovic was the European Michael Jordan. What a tragedy. And yet what a great movie about brotherhood, friendship, war and basketball.

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