The Brothers (1979)

Watching this movie was like a deja-vu. The story was familiar, yet I couldn't remember if I had watched this before. I wonder if there was a remake.

The story was very dramatic. Zhang family lived near the pier. The father was probably the head-village. A German boss wanted to buy the land on the shore. Zhang led the people to refuse the sale because the land was a heritage, but the buyer's men kidnapped Zhang's wife and two sons, so Zhang signed the deed. The villagers didn't know what had happened so they took Zhang as a traitor. They tattooed 'Traitor's son' words into Zhang's oldest son's arm.

The father died and the mother and sons moved from the village. The mother and the oldest son worked, so the youngest son could go into a school. Time passed. The youngest son went into a military school, while the oldest son still worked as a coolie in a pier. He refused to pay security money and beat the thugs. Their boss admired him and hired him to work for him. Later he became their leader.

Liu Yung as the oldest son

When the youngest son returned, he had to catch a notorious criminal: his own brother. [I am not sure why a military school's graduate worked in a criminal case - and not became a soldier and go to a war.]

Two brothers: one is a triad member and one a police - they have to confront each other, this theme is used again in 'A Better Tomorrow'. I like better Danny Lee's portrayal as the youngest son here than Lesley Cheung in 'A Better Tomorrow'. Here we could see the traces of his love to his brother and his gratitude for his sacrifice in the past. He didn't hate his triad brother. He wanted to put him to jail and hoped that he would change.

The mother here loved his two sons equally. She only agreed to leave the expensive house bought by his oldest son's illegal money because she thought that it was inappropriate. When the oldest son called her about his marriage, she received the call  and spoke like a mother who loved her son, regardless of what he had done.