'Brothers' grim

Film highlights a family coping with war’s horror

by Jase Howell

It seems as long as the United States in embroiled in conflicts in the Middle East, which seems to be for some time more after President Obama’s called for deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Hollywood will continue churn out films dissecting the conflict. Some, such as “In the Valley of Elah,” were steeped in political convictions, while others such as the more recent “Hurt Locker” have tried to sidestep politics and play for straight character studies.

Director Jim Sheridan’s entry into the melee, “Brothers,” is a bit of both. The film follows the Cahill family overseas and at home, and the turbulence the conflict creates for the family.

Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is leaving his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two daughters behind for another tour in Afghanistan, just as his wayward brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is being released from prison. If the differences between the siblings isn’t evidence enough, an early family dinner scene featuring Tommy’s reception by Grace and family patriarch, Hank (Sam Shepard), certainly solidifies the comparisons between the golden boy and the ne’er-do-well.

Not long into his tour, Sam’s transport helicopter is shot down and the Army presumes him dead. The news is obviously a crushing blow to the Cahills, who are forced to bury an empty casket. Sheridan handles the death with a very realistic touch, bringing to surface the hurt, anger and resentments of the characters without ever dipping into massive melodrama.

Then, strangely enough, some good comes from the grief. Tommy begins to connect with his nieces, and slowly his sister-in-law through an unfinished kitchen project. The project is really just an excuse for Tommy to fulfill what he feels is a familial obligation, watching over his brother’s family in a time of need. While life begins to mend at home, Sam is indeed alive as a P.O.W. suffering at the hands of his captors.

The film flips us back and forth between the two worlds until Sam’s eventual return. Sadly, it is difficult to tell whether Sam ever returns whole, or just in the physical form.

This film is both political and apolitical. The screenplay by David Benioff (“The Kite Runner”), based on the film “Brodre” written by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen, certainly places great emphasis on the lasting mental stress disorders that result from captive torture, yet it never really assesses political blame or tries to preach for different methods of psychiatric treatment.

Under Sheridan’s lens “Brothers,” much like several of his past films including “In the Name of the Father” and “In America,” is more of a family portrait. This is a movie more interested in the connections and disconnections created by the turmoil of war.

In order to make such a film successful it requires driving performances, and Sheridan’s cast is more than up to the task. Tobey Maguire delivers an awe-striking performance as the returning vet that seems to have never really left the desert and is fighting demons from his time there. You may want to revisit Christopher Walken’s infamous role in “The Deer Hunter” — Maguire is that solidly insane.

Jake Gyllenhaal, meanwhile, plays all the notes right as the no-good brother who has turned a corner and all of the sudden found responsibility and a seat in the family circle. Natalie Portman rarely ever disappoints in her performances, and this one is no exception; she handles her character with almost perfect precision without ever trying to steal scenes. She doesn’t stretch to overly theatrical, but is spoton realistic.

Sam Shepard also turns in a finely-tuned performance he predicates on facial features and soft tones that convey everything he is thinking and saying, with minimal dialogue. Even the young Baillee Madison and Taylor Geare, portraying Isabelle and Elsie, Sam’s and Grace’s daughters, deliver heartbreakingly engrossing performances.

“Brothers” is a very relevant film considering the times we are engaged in now. While it is successful highlighting the effects of war, it is even more successful conveying the reality of one small family’s ordeal and how the experiences have irreparably changed them forever.

This is part of the December 17, 2009 online edition of The Reporter.

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