How to watch The Brothers’ Home documentary for free before Squid Game Season 3

Although Squid Game isn’t based on a true story, the Netflix show has been compared to the horrific crimes that unfolded at South Korea’s Brothers’ Home. To learn more, there’s a documentary on the facility that is available to stream for free. 

When Squid Game Season 2 landed on the streaming service last month, posts started circulating that a real-life deadly competition was held in 1986 in “no man’s land” – but there are no accounts of this taking place. 

However, many of the posts feature disturbing images that were captured at the very real Brothers’ Home, a prison camp masquerading as a homeless safe haven that was dubbed “Korea’s Auschwitz.”  

Although Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk hasn’t spoken about the Brothers’ Home in connection with the show, there are similarities between the two. Warning: some may find this content distressing.

Watch the Brothers’ Home documentary for free

If you want to learn more about the Brothers’ Home, Al Jazeera’s 101 East has a 50-minute documentary you can watch for free on YouTube now. Check it out in full below: 

Titled ‘Investigating rape, slave labor and murder in South Korea’s House of Horror’, the 2021 documentary film examines the alleged crimes committed at the facility, which ran from 1976 to 1987.

Many of the survivors 101 East speak to say they had sought help from the authorities as children, only for the Brothers’ Home to round them up in trucks – similar to those seen in Squid Game – before forcing them to endure torturous conditions for years. 

Thousands of people ended up imprisoned at the facility as part of the then-authoritarian government’s 1975 Directive No. 410 – a policy to “purify the streets” of South Korea. This gave police the freedom to decide who was classified as a “vagrant.”

Despite being a place for the homeless, an investigation discovered that only 10% of those at the Brothers’ Home were living on the street. As is explored in the documentary, a lot of the inmates were simply children who were snatched by police and forcibly held there.

As well as giving survivors the opportunity to share their stories and expose the human rights abuses committed at the Busan camp, the film also investigates those who committed these crimes and are now reportedly living in Australia. 

Why the Brothers’ Home is compared to Squid Game

Netflix

Ahead of the release of Squid Game Season 3, social media has been awash with discussions about the Brothers’ Home and its similarities to the Netflix series, with both involving vulnerable members of society being exploited by the rich.

Additionally, inmates were forced to wear blue training suits and given identification numbers instead of names, much like the players in Squid Game. 

There can also be parallels drawn between the Pink Guards and the Brothers’ Home’s chain of command, which saw inmates abuse other inmates.

It goes without saying that the abuses survivors faced at the facility were far worse than those in the series but, for many, the themes of systemic exploitation and dehumanization make it a chilling real-world counterpart to the fictional horrors of Squid Game.

You can also read our Season 3 predictions, why the Front Man ‘milk theory’ is wrong, and find more true crime documentaries streaming this month.