"Brothers"
Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham, Clifton Collins Jr.
Rated: R
Jim Sheridan has directed just seven films in his 20-year career, but they have been emotionally powerful pieces of work.
His debut, "My Left Foot," was the story of Christy Brown, an artist born with cerebral palsy who taught himself to paint with his left foot. The films that followed - "The Field," "In the Name of the Father," "The Boxer" - were equally intense.
Sheridan's latest film "Brothers" - based on Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish feature, "Brodre" - is his most gut-wrenching and emotional work to date.
While he and screenwriter David Benioff don't saddle the film with overt pacifist sensibilities, "Brothers" does show how the insanity and chaos of war can affect not only countries and societies at large, but individuals and their families in the most profound ways. It gives the viewer insights into the fact that being killed in action isn't necessarily the worst thing that can happen in a war.
It's a heavy film and may not be suitable for the squeamish. But its power is palpable and all the actors involved (even the young girls) give a sense of intense realism to a tale that could very well be based on a true story.
Argentinian writer José Narosky said it best: "In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." Sheridan and company give the audience an up-close look at such a premise.
The title characters are Sam (Tobey Maguire) and Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) Cahill. Older brother Sam is a straight arrow, a military man in the fashion of his father (Sam Shepard). Tommy is the decidedly darker sheep of the family.
As the film opens Tommy is just getting out of jail and Sam is getting ready to be re-deployed to a second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Tommy is a screw up, but Sheridan doesn't paint him as all bad, nor does he fall into the clichéd "lovable loser" Hollywood character trap. Gyllenhaal gives Tommy a good amount of depth and believability.
Sam's wife Grace - Natalie Portman in her most mature role to date - doesn't much care for Tommy hanging around. She and Sam have two young daughters and Grace thinks Tommy is a bad example. In fact, everyone in the Cahill family thinks Tommy is a bad example, and it's plain that he is aware of that fact.
Sam goes back to Afghanistan and Grace begins to soften her view of Tommy. The girls like him, and he's affable and handy around the house.
Intercut with the lives of the Cahill family in America are scenes of Sam in Afghanistan.
Then the dreadful moment happens. On a helicopter mission Sam and some of his men are shot down. Most of the soldiers die, but Sam and Cpl. Joe Willis survive. They are captured but listed as having been killed in action.
The Cahills back home are devastated. The unintentional consequence of the episode is the fact that it draws Grace and Tommy closer together. Tommy becomes a father figure to the girls and a surrogate husband to Grace. Their shared grief is a driving force for the passion that eventually surfaces.
Back in Afghanistan, Sam and Corporal Willis are going through hell at the hands of their captors. The situation culminates with an act that will change Sam forever.
Then he's rescued and sent back home.
When he returns, Sam realizes things have changed with his wife, kids and brother. And the viewer realizes that things have changed with Sam.
Maguire brought some under-the-surface angst to his Spiderman portrayals, and here he goes all the way down the road to being an obviously tortured soul.
The final act of "Brothers" is not easy to watch. The slice of tortured lives that Sheridan puts on-screen is the stuff of emotional nightmares.
It will never be called the feel-good movie of the season, but it's a great film that takes a frank, unapologetic look at the devastation of war - on a personal level.[[In-content Ad]]
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.
