| "Brothers" (My 0-10 rating: 7) | | | | Sam in every way. |
| Genre: Drama, War. | | | | But Tommy is also the life-of-the-party in any social |
| Director: Jim Sheridan | | | | situation. He's a provocateur, insensitive perhaps, but |
| Screenplay: David Benioff | | | | nonetheless the center of charm with his adroit wit |
| Cast: Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie | | | | and roguish personality. And he's into that very role |
| Portman, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham | | | | now on his first night of freedom, moving into |
| Time: 1 hr., 50 min. | | | | prominence at Sam's farewell dinner in the presence |
| Rating: R (romance intimacy, vulgarity, some | | | | also of their parents, Elsie (Mare Winningham) and |
| disturbing violence, torture) | | | | Hank Cahill (Sam Shepard), himself a retired Marine. |
| Powerful theme, major moral questions, but marred | | | | It's more than plain that Hank is contemptuous of |
| somewhat by uneven dramatic pacing. | | | | Tommy. |
| "Brothers," in timely fashion, is the first film to deal | | | | Soon comes the drama. On a mission in Afghanistan, |
| with the effects of the Afghanistan war on our | | | | Sam's chopper is shot down in the bleak and remote |
| Marines. Hesitate before going to see it due to a few | | | | mountains. Sam is officially presumed dead. Back at |
| scenes of mind-bending atrocity. | | | | home, his family is just receiving the full shock of |
| As long as the film is into its sequences of anger and | | | | being told of this catastrophe, facing the inevitable |
| fury, it's horrendously well done. When, however, it | | | | stark emptiness within themselves. |
| tries to develop its essential intimacies in love | | | | Tommy feels a surge of family loyalty and |
| relationships it suffers from stop-and-go momentum | | | | responsibility, now stepping forth to shelter Grace |
| which abruptly slows its progression. Still, no doubt | | | | and the children under his wings, to say nothing of |
| about it, its basic atrocity hook in the sequence | | | | how he must now face himself. |
| depicting the barbaric and inhumanly savage | | | | But as fate would have it, Sam is not dead. Having |
| punishments exacted by the Taliban (shot in Abiquiu, | | | | been captured by the Taliban in the foreboding Pamir |
| New Mexico) is so mind-shattering that I heard and | | | | Mountains, Sam is barely surviving, mentally and |
| felt the audience gasp and cringe in every part of | | | | physically, under the horrendous traumas of his |
| the theater. | | | | captivity in which the Taliban captors force him to do |
| This is Tobey Maguire's deepest and broadest role | | | | an unimaginable act. So that even as he is being |
| ever, and he accomplishes it with a commendably | | | | de-humanized and mentally changed forever, his |
| studied finesse. He clearly wants you to suffer his | | | | brother Tommy is gaining character strength back |
| anguish and humiliation with him. You're to be no | | | | home. |
| passive observer in this. Add, in no lesser energy, the | | | | In fact, Grace and Tommy are getting into each |
| absorbing performance by Jake Gyllenhaal and the | | | | other. Once regarding each other coldly, now they |
| film overcomes its shortfalls. | | | | find themselves in shame and wariness over their |
| Supported by flawlessly impactful performances at all | | | | mutual attraction. But, especially in regards to |
| adult and child roles, the ugly ironies of war achieve a | | | | Tommy's wonderful rapport with her kids, it is |
| uniqueness when one homecoming Marine carries | | | | happening. |
| within his embattled psyche a memory of trauma so | | | | Predictably, of course, the climax will build over |
| catastrophic that he's a walking blockbuster. Natalie | | | | what's to happen when Sam comes home. For Sam, |
| Portman, playing his wife, and Sam Shepard, as his | | | | who's become withdrawn and explosive in his time of |
| father, roll with and against his force in a dynamic | | | | captivity, harbors immediate suspicion of an attraction |
| that keeps you glued. | | | | between Tom and Grace. |
| Thirtysomething Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), | | | | The energy of this family have changed strikingly. |
| loving husband to his high school sweetheart Grace | | | | Loyalty, love and masculinity are now on the line. And |
| (Natalie Portman) and devoted father to two young | | | | a mind shattered. |
| girls, is facing his fourth tour of duty as a Marine, this | | | | Again, caution, should you elect to see this movie. As |
| one to Afghanistan. And into this emotion-laden | | | | to what effect it may have on our resolve in the |
| scene in suburbia now arrives Tommy Cahill (Jake | | | | coming troop surge in Afghanistan, there's a real |
| Gyllenhaal), Sam's younger brother. While Sam has | | | | question as to whether the American public will rise |
| always been the very model of the responsible | | | | and demand hard action against the grotesquely ugly |
| family man and dutiful soldier, Tommy, just released | | | | Taliban, or, will say Let's Get Out! |
| from jail, is an aimless drifter, the exact opposite to | | | | |