Editing Sergei Bodrov Jr. (section)

=== Brother ===
During the 1996 Sochi film festival, Sergei Bodrov made the acquaintance of director [[Aleksei Balabanov]], who invited him to the STW film studio. It was here that ''[[Brother (1997 film)|Brother]]'' was being filmed for release in 1997. Sergei played the starring role, Danila Bagrov. The movie was criticized by the media, accused of [[racism]] and [[Anti-Russian sentiment|Russophobia]] (as a film made for foreign audiences). Bodrov himself assessed his character in the following way: ''I know that Danila is often reproached for being primitive, simple and inarticulate. And in part, I agree with that. But a metaphor connected with him forms in my mind: I imagine people in a primitive chaos, who sit in their cave before the fire and do not understand anything else in their life except for the responsibility to eat and to reproduce. And suddenly one of them stands up and utters very simple words about how it is necessary to stand up for their friends, to respect women, to defend one's brother.<ref name="Sergei Bodrov The Messenger" />''

The music to the movie was composed by the [[Rock music in Russia|Russian rock]] band [[Nautilus Pompilius (band)|Nautilus Pompilius]], which Sergei himself enjoyed listening to.<ref name="Shtepina O.">{{cite news|last = Shtepina|first = Olga|title = Idol of a young generation|url=http://www.sergei-bodrov.sitecity.ru/ltext_2112225905.phtml?p_ident=ltext_2112225905.p_2112230812|work = [[Moskovskij Komsomolets|MK-Bulvar]]|language=ru| date = 2000-10-11|access-date=2009-03-03}}</ref>

It was through playing the lead role in <nowiki>''Brother''</nowiki> that "he became a matinee idol in 1997".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Wines |first=Michael |date=2002-09-24 |title=Rising Star Lost in Russia's Latest Disaster |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/world/rising-star-lost-in-russia-s-latest-disaster.html |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 

Despite some controversy, the movie received critical acclaim and won an award at the film festival in [[Sochi]], a Special Jury Award and the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI]] Award at the international festival in [[Turin]], the same awards in [[Cottbus]], and the Grand Prix in [[Trieste]]. Bodrov received the award for Best Actor at the movie festivals in [[Sochi]] and [[Chicago]] and got the "Golden Aries" prize.

The movie was regarded by many in Russia as culturally significant and for many of the younger generation, Bodrov's character Danila Bagrov became a hero and a role model.<ref name="Trophimenkov M." />