MOVIE REVIEW: BROTHERS
Brothers
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenplay: David Benioff
TRT: 110 Minutes (R) for language and some disturbing violent content.
Cast
Tobey Maguire as Capt. Sam Cahill
Jake Gyllenhaal as Tommy Cahill
Natalie Portman as Grace Cahill
Sam Shepard as Hank Cahill
Mare Winningham as Elsie Cahill
Bailee Madison as Isabelle Cahill
Patrick Flueger as Joe Willis
Peacock Feathers (3 1/2 out of 5)
By Marcus Thorpe
Brothers brings some very real emotions to the suface, it puts everything right in your face. From the sheer agony of losing a loved one, to the unbelievable mental struggle so many of our men and women must go through as they head back from war, this film doesn’t shy away from any of it. By the end, the raw performances from a very strong cast make this film certainly worth seeing.
The story surrounds a family that has very different pasts, but meet in the same home and with an affection for the same woman. As war continues in Afghanistan we get a scene all too familiar for many families. Captain Sam Cahill (Maguire) has to leave his 2 young daughters, a wife that loves him very much, a military father, and an entire town that looks at him as a brave shining star in the community. On the flip side, his brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is finding his footing back in the real world after a stint in prison. He is not only thrown into a world that doesn’t want him, but a father that can’t look at his jail-bird son while his war hero son shares the same roof. There is a connection between the brothers, a bond that looks past the obvious differences between where they stand, instead focusing on a hope that somehow things will be normal. We soon see that won’t be the case. The household is run by a wife busy raising two young children, and watching her husband fly into harms way again. Grace (Portman) is the rock for her children, she conforts them when the two girls watch Dad say his goodbye’s. As the story unfolds, the family state-side learns that Capt. Cahill will not be coming home, he is seemingly killed in a helicopter crash. Of course, that is not the case, as we see exactly where Sam ends up, and it’s not pretty. He is subjected to torture, and one of the most difficult things you can imagine before he finds his way home.
This film really works because of the superb performances from an all-star cast. Maguire goes places you have never seen him go as an actor. He brings the mental anguish that is associated with a soldier who has seen and done terrible things, as he puts it to his younger brother, “it’s his job.“ He takes you places inside his mind with just a glassy stare, he erupts in ange. Once home, he is a picture in contrast between a father who has it all together, and a man on the brink of disaster all within a matter of seconds. Portman is more than believable, and really hits the mark as Grace. She shows you her strong side with her children, and broken side when she loses her husband, and her weak side when she falls momentarily for Tommy. Gyllenhaal is a very capable performer as the rough and tough Tommy. You see that he has a hardened exterior, but a soft spot for his nieces, and eventually his brother’s wife. Some of the best work is actually from one of the youngest actresses. Mare Wiiningham plays the older sister Elsie. She steals the show with one scene at the dinner table where she can’t hold her tounge and blurts out something that sets the chain of events flying faster then a super-sonic military jet. She breaks down like a young, confused child would when her father leaves, then comes back from the dead. The direction is very strong from Sheridan as it was in 2003’s “In America”. He lets the actors and dialogue breathe, giving you layers inside the characters, but most importantly giving you all the layers that happen inside a family and home.
Eveything comes full circle in the last 15 minutes, and it will have you wondering what is going to happen between the unexpected triangle of Tommy, Sam, and Grace. The film is powerful because it makes you think just how hard it must be for some who spend time overseas to plug back into a foreign world out of uniform. Brothers is respectful, real, raw, and very good.
MT
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Posted by
on 12/06 at 11:11 PM
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