BY LOUIS PAVLAKOS FOR COMPLEX CANADA
'Brother' director Clement Virgo talks about perceptions of life, his understanding of masculinity, and how 90s Canadian hip-hop laid the groundwork.
When Clement Virgo signed on to direct the film adaptation of David Chariandy’s award-winning novel Brother, he immediately saw a piece of himself in Michael, the younger of the two brothers in the film.
As a self-described introvert, Virgo always silently observed his surroundings, taking in the world that his parents and his siblings helped shape around him. In that reflection came a deeper understanding of the bond that Michael and his brother Francis develop over the course of the film.
Michael and Francis have a relationship that’s tender but also fractured from the lack of resources—both material and familial—that can help shape them as young men. Abandoned by their father at a young age, their mother Ruth struggled with a low-paying, highly demanding job, often leaving her kids to their own devices. Without any guidance on how to be a man in an ever-changing world, Michael looks to Francis to provide guidance on how to piece together his own masculinity.