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" 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 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.