Film Review: Brothers

Brothers, directed by (Jim Sheridan) is a remake of a Danish film, and most critics have claimed that it does not live up to the original. Nonetheless, the film is a dramatic take on the individual effects of war, with an all-star cast.

In Brothers the audience is introduced to a family that includes Grace (Natalie Portman) and Sam (Tobey Maguire), a US soldier who is about to embark on a mission to Afghanistan. We then meet his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is being released from prison on parole. The personalities of the two brothers are contrasted throughout – a point which is frequently made clear by their father who reminds Tommy that he will never live up to his brother.

The trailer for the film does not leave much to the imagination, as most of the plot is given away – Sam’s helicopter crashes en route and the family are informed that he is dead. As a result, Tommy quits drinking and decides to spend his time getting to know his nieces, and his sister in law, Grace. As it turns out, Sam and a fellow soldier survived the crash and have been taken as prisoners of war. The scenes that depict the romance developing between Tommy and Grace are intercut with the torture scenes in Afghanistan, creating a juxtaposition of images.

As a prisoner of war, Sam is forced to do something inhumane, and when he returns home, the effects of his experiences immediately set in. He feels dislocated, and becomes enraged with jealousy, and his dishevelled body reinforces both the physical and mental effects of his time in Afghanistan.

It seems there has been a recent influx of films involving the current wars – The Hurt Locker and The Green Zone are also screening in theatres. The idea that “war is like a drug” – the opening quote from The Hurt Locker is also explored in Brothers as Sam experiences an initial desire to return to war in order to escape reality. Similarly, the glorification of the American soldiers as heroes is evident, and one of Sam and Grace’s children naively notes in the very beginning, that the “bad guys are the ones with beads”.

While there is no real climax, the film attempts to delve into the mentality of traumatised soldiers, which is an intense subject to tackle, and anyone who is a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal (and who isn’t?) will appreciate the film.