Brothers of the Head

Brothers of the Head—directed by Louis Pepe and Keith Fulton (Lost in La Mancha) and written by Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, In This World)—is actually an adaptation of Brian Aldiss’ book of the same title. Brothers of the Head is also produced by Simon Channing Williams, who produced Fernando Meirelles’ acclaimed The Constant Gardener.

The movie is a much-anticipated release done in a dead-pan pseudo-documentary style representing a fictional/historical account of conjoined twins Tom and Barry Howe (Luke and Harry Treadaway), who are discovered by an obscure rock promoter and groomed into a freakish punk show. Representing an “inside” look into the nascent world of Punk Rock in the 70s, the story grapples with seemingly impossible love, artistic rivalry, inner demons and the music such a combination can produce.

The movie highlights Tom and Barry’s rise to success, and then takes a darker turn when journalist Laura Ashworth (Tania Emery as the younger Laura and Diana Kent as the older Laura) is sent to do a story regarding the exploitation of the boys for the sake of the show. While the brothers aren’t interested in the story, they both become quite interested in the pretty Laura, and the rivalry begins. Laura soon becomes a fixture in the studio and at the concerts of the “Bang Bang” (that’s the name of the band), and begins to fall in love with Tom (the gentler and less dark of the brothers). This leaves Barry out, causing a split and a bitterness between an otherwise unified and ostensibly univocal being.

The rift causes a creative spurt that launches “Two Way Romeo” as their signature song, and makes The Bang Bang a freakish side show favorite of the burgeoning Punk crowd in 1970s England. As usual, fame comes with its price, especially when it is discovered that there is a third malign triplet embedded into Barry’s shoulder—representing a demon rearing its ugly head, sending Barry into a darker world of drugs and alcohol and depression. The movie ends with raucous mayhem at their final concert, forcing Tom to take matters into his own hands by attempting the suicidal impossibility of cutting himself free from his other self, Barry.

Artistically this movie has its merits. It does a phenomenal job of creating a story that looks real, drawing us into the lives of Tom and Barry through many interviews, and clips of the concerts and lives of these twins. It blends the lines of truth and fiction, and causes you to question whether or not this story actually happened, or is just a fantasy in the writer’s mind. It gives you insight into the impermanent nature of truth from a human perspective. Not that truth isn’t objective, but it can be created and formed by a camera lens, and the mind of the creators. We so often fall for someone’s story as reality, when the goal was to simply present an opinion in as real a manner as possible.

I don’t, however, believe that this film is a film many people could enjoy. It does take a look at an interesting segment of music history, but I didn’t find much redemptive in the film. It just seems pointlessly tragic, highlighting the human tendency to turn on the ones we love when temptation and desire enter the fray.

Still, there are two metaphors or themes that we can see in this movie. The first is that even complimentary forces that sincerely love one another can be destroyed by the intrusion of a third-party temptation. I am reminded of The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which a peaceful indigenous tribe is torn apart by jealousy and competition upon the introduction of a Coke bottle into their exclusive culture. Brothers of the Head is metaphoric of internal struggles and forces that create chaos and turmoil in our own selves when foreign temptations enter our lives. It highlights the darkness inherent in all of us. Ultimately in this dark tragedy, the annihilation of the self is the only option.

A second theme is expressed in the words of screenwriter Tony Grisoni: “The aesthetic of Tom and Barry Howe was us freaks against the world, and that fit perfectly with the punk ethos. It was great conceit. It meant that they could fit into the world as we know it.” This seems to resonate with the rebellious world of rock that says, “I will exist in your established system the way I want. I won’t be shaped by your institutions!” From Iggy Pop and David Bowie to The Sex Pistols and the Ramones, we see an alternative style and look that forces itself upon the scene, questioning ‘normality’ along the way.

This same ethos has dominated the arts forever and can be seen from Degas to Marilyn Manson. Charisma, energy, and individualism has made rock and roll great, yet equally destructive. Brothers of the Head demonstrates that humanity is equally sublime and subversive. We so badly desire to create and redefine ourselves from a creatively constructive point of reference—as Van Til wrote, a Receptively Reconstructive point of reference. We are either discrete beings who are analogues (or derivatives) of our creator, or we are transcendent and co-equal with the creator.

Yet this movie reminds us that our deep inner desire is to be self-referential and original, without ever acknowledging that everything we create is merely an archetype of the original. I didn’t find this movie to be uplifting, nor did I find it to be redemptive. I found it to be a tragic reminder of what living life as our own gods can look like.