Blood Brothers: A Most Powerful Documentary

I watched this film last night and was overwhelmed, having to hit "pause" on more than one occasion before being able to continue.

Blood Brother is a 90 minute documentary about Rocky Braat, a young man from the U.S. who was a poor student, from a very broken home who suddenly decides to move to India.

Openly admitting a dislike children, he nonetheless visits an orphanage for women and children affected by or afflicted with HIV. The orphanage becomes his home and his mission in life. Several years in, he's forced to return to the States for visa renewal, and stays with his best friend, STeve. During this period, Steve, decides to accompany Rocky to India to see (and film) his friend's life and witness first hand how that life has changed. Needless to say, he's overwhelmed and so is the viewer.

The impact this young man makes in the lives of these abandoned, outcast children is nothing short of inspiring, but also heartbreaking. The film has an honesty about it and unflinchingly shows Rocky's anger, his struggles to go on in the face of such hopelessness amidst the frightening living conditions. More than once the work of Mother Theresa came to mind.

I so wanted to see this when it aired on PBS' Independent Lens earlier this year, but missed the opportunity. I'm happy to say Netflix has just added it to its latest streaming programming. I cannot recommend this highly enough.