A film can have a great story, but it can’t be pulled off without great performances. And you get three of them in Brothers from Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman. This film has a few levels to its story. It is about family and being committed. A message about the loss of a significant other. It is about war and how it affects the soldier and their family. All of these scenarios are played out in full force in this gripping and emotional film, and it’s backed up by brilliant performances.
Brothers is a powerful story about two brothers who went down two different paths in life. Captain Sam Cahill (Maguire) is a Marine who is about to be sent off on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan. He married Grace (Portman), his high school sweetheart. It’s a story of the football player marrying the high-school cheerleader, and they have two young daughters.
Sam’s brother, Tommy (Gyllenhaal), is a different story. He has stayed in trouble and drunk through his high school days and has become a drifter. The beginning of the film shows Tommy just getting out of jail for a robbery we never know too much about, and Sam is the one there to pick him up. They may be opposites, but they will always be brothers.
Grace never really liked Tommy and their father always seemed proud of Sam and disappointed in Tommy. So they are completely different in almost every way possible. However, when Sam’s Black Hawk helicopter is shot down, everything changes. Sam is presumed dead and, of course, this devastates his entire family. Without being asked, Tommy starts to help Grace and her two girls. Over time, Tommy becomes Uncle Tommy to the girls and starts to fall for his brother’s wife.
Everything changes once again when Sam makes his way back home, but he is not the same. We see what Sam goes through to get back to his family, and it isn’t pretty. He is tortured and starved, and eventually broken down by the Taliban and he does something that will haunt him for the rest of his days. Everyone has to learn how to be a family again.
This is not the first film about war and what it does to the person involved or to their mental health. When Sam comes back, he is not that loving, caring father. He has his reasons, but I won’t give them away. But it is not only tough for him but for his whole family. It is almost as if a ghost has come back. Everyone thought he was dead and right when they all start to move on, their world is turned upside down once more.
Jim Sheridan did a great job with this film. It is a remake from a Danish film made in 2004. I have never seen that one, but this one is wonderfully done and shot. The greatest thing about this film is how the story confronts all people involved with war and its aftermath. It is tragic to watch, but there is hope. Lives are turned around and people are given second chances.
I can’t say enough about the great actors in this film. Maguire, Gyllenhaal, and Portman are great. They all play to each emotional element, and I have to say, this may be Maguire’s best performance to date. He really strips the identity of being Spider-Man. He is loving, confident, scared, and frightening throughout this entire film. The two young girls who play the daughters are great child actors. It is awesome to see what they can do at such a young age.
Family is family, and sometimes, that’s all you have. Sam and Tommy are brothers and it’s put to the test. Actually, the whole family is put to the test in Brothers. It is scary and intense to see what war can do to a man and what he can do to his family. But this film is important because it puts the focus on not only a soldier and their issues, but the problems that are left back home.
The previews make Brothers seem like a film about forbidden love. A romance between a brother and his dead brother’s wife, but this only plays a small part in the film. There is so much this film offers to an audience. It contains so many different elements and presents them in an intelligent way.
This is not a lighthearted film or a sappy love story. Brothers keeps you involved, worried, and nervous for what will unfold for this family. A family that can be destroyed or saved. It is their choice.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of theSoBros Network, and the star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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