Strong stuff.
Usually I try to make these reviews one part informative and two parts funny. If you’re expecting a few chuckles from this read, however, I suggest scrolling down to another review. Quite frankly, there was nothing humorous in Brothers and, subsequently, nothing of the sort in this post.
The story begins by painting the picture of a typical family. Yes, typical (at least in America) does equate with ‘dysfunctional’. Brother number one is Sam (Toby Maguire), a captain in the US Marines and family hero. Brother number two is Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal). He has recently been released from prison and anchors the role of family black sheep. Grace (Natalie Portman) is Sam’s wife and very much in love with Sam. The couple has two daughters (7-ish and 5-ish). The brother’s Dad (Sam Shepherd) is glowingly proud of Sam and equally boisterous about his disappointment with Tommy, while step mom (Mare Winningham) attempts the role of peacemaker.
Going into this, I really thought Brothers was a story about a soldier who is presumed dead. His wife moves on…falling in love with said soldier’s brother, only to learn that the soldier never really died. I was wrong. That is not what this story is really about. Tommy and Grace have a moment, yes. Tommy really comes into his own and grows up a lot while stepping up to fill some family roles vacated by Sam’s presumed death. However, the two don’t really fall in love or even hook-up for that matter. That’s not necessarily what Sam thinks, mind you, but he is battling many demons and that particular paranoid suspicion haunts his mind in regard to the Grace-Tommy bond, which brings all demons to light.
It’s a good movie, but very tough to watch at times, only because the subject matter is so disturbing, so depressing and so real. It speaks to the horrific experiences of war that are next to impossible for people to overcome. It showcases the struggles of a family dealing with a loved one being pulled from them to serve. And finally, it reveals the insanity of trying to merge those sides back together after all have suffered in their own way.
Yes, it was a good movie, but I did experience a few ups and downs with Brothers. I really thought that ‘Death’ was going to be a strong undercurrent in this flick. Which is one reason I probably avoided it as long as I did. Losing my Mom when I was 15 and my Dad ten years later, I understand the difficulty of losing someone you love. Brothers did a good job of handling the devastating emotions of losing someone, but I felt came up way short in handling the re-emergence of the presumed dead, Sam. It seemed to be more of a “…this happens everyday” reaction than the range of emotions I would have felt were I told that my Mom was still alive or that Dad really survived that accident.
An even bigger issue to me was with the development of aspects of the story. On at least four occasions, there was a slap-in-the-face “jump to conclusion” that left me asking: ”Where did that come from? How do you get from here to there based on this information?” There was no standard montage of flash-scenes that provided a basis for the conclusion—just an off-the-wall occurrence or comment that seemingly came with an unfounded basis, or was completely out-of-character for the actor. All of which left me scratching my head and damaging the film’s credibility in the process.
Ultimately, it’s 4-Stars. Yeah, I really liked it. It delved into a wide-range of emotions and even helped me remember why I always wanted a brother. If you want a relaxing little escape, well, it’s not Brothers. But—if you are seeking a thought-provoking charge that will lead you into a bevy of emotions, you’ll enjoy it.
Thanks for reading…
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