蘇珊·桑塔格以文藝批評見長,即便是在標志著她文藝活動轉向的電影制作中,也依然有其文藝思想的回聲。《卡爾兄弟》從語言的匱乏和溝通的困難出發,意圖說明嚴肅藝術家在巔峰狀態的驟然靜默乃是對藝術的深刻反思。靜默會導致極端的自我否定,并帶來死亡的威脅,但也能成為救贖的契機,從而打開封閉的心靈。《卡爾兄弟》是桑塔格"靜默美學"的藝術實踐,無論成功與否都是她在視覺藝術道路上一次勇敢的探索。

Susan Sontag’s literary and artistic criticism finds an echo in her filmmaking efforts that marked a turn in her artistic career. Starting with the sterility of language and difficulty of communication, her film Brother Carl demonstrates that it is out of careful introspection on art that a serious artist chooses to be suddenly silent at the peak of his or her career. Silence may lead to ultimate self-negation and menace of death, but it can also create opportunities of salvation so as to open up the once closed mind. Based on her "aesthetics of silence", Brother Carl constitutes a brave act of experimentation as Sontag transitions to a different artistic medium.