These 'Brothers' Struggle to Maintain Family

Brothers

film review

by Mandy Rodgers

2009

Rated: R

Director: Jim Sheridan

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire, Clifton Collins Jr., Bailee Madison, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham, Taylor Geare and Patrick Flueger

            Several years after talks of Gyllenhaal replacing Maguire in part of the Spiderman franchise subsided, someone, somewhere (perhaps casting director Avy Kaufman) realized the two could play convincing brothers. Maguire (playing the eldest in film and in real life) is Capt. Sam Cahill, a standup husband, son and father about to begin a UN mission in Afghanistan. Sam has just picked Tommy (Gyllenhaal) up from jail when the movie begins, immediately demonstrating the dichotomy between the two brothers. Sam is always the magnanimous one helping his younger sibling. Tommy has screwed up his life with armed robbery and now drinks to ease the pain of his own embarrassment and his father’s disapproval.

            After an uncomfortable family dinner to welcome Tommy home and send Sam back overseas, it’s evident that this family has deep-seeded issues, starting with Daddy Cahill, Hank (Shepard), who does not keep it a secret how much he favors the older son who followed in his prestigious and honored military footsteps. Grace (Portman), Sam’s wife, struggles to keep the dinner in order and her daughters—Isabelle (Madison) and Maggie (Geare)—out of the conflict.

            As soon as Sam leaves, it’s no secret that he won’t be coming back immediately. The plot revolves around Sam’s believed demise and Tommy’s growing spot in Grace, Isabelle and Maggie’s life. The trailer is very misleading though, and the direction it points their relationship in is non-existent, however, all of the shown themes run through the film.

            Sam returns to his home after a horrific experience in war-torn Afghanistan being kidnapped, held hostage and led to perform unimaginable tasks. When he sees the new bond that formed between his brother and family, he can’t handle it and automatically confuses suspicion for truth, isolating himself from everyone.

Even though it’s a Hollywoodized version of the Swedish original Brødre, Sheridan’s Brothers still sends a powerful message to and about those dealing with war-related troubles in family life. Like one of this year’s acclaimed films, The Hurt Locker, Brothers explores the problems soldiers suffer from when returning to normal life. The instances examined here seem a little dramatized but all possible, and many are feeling similar effects every day in America.

Portman is all grown up playing a doting, devoted and strong woman. She often puts aside her own sadness for her two young daughters, but the pain of losing a husband, joy of getting a second chance and inevitable confusion as to how to help him is all evident in her eyes. Gyllenhaal remains thoroughly likable throughout the drama, even when he’s boozing it up at the local bar. Anyone who has dealt with disapproving parents can identify with Tommy’s plight.

The real enigma is Maguire. At the film’s start—before his gut wrenching tribulations in Afghanistan—he seems a little off. Painted as a beautiful and loving family portrait, Maguire’s Sam is unlikable from the start. Perhaps the rigid and structured life he leads as a captain has an effect, but the early scenes make the later ones—where he’s wild-eyed and crazed—less shocking. Still powerful, but less so than if he was emotionally available to his family from the film’s opening. Grace loves Sam, but Portman and Maguire have zero chemistry, and their love affair’s believability suffers from that. I actually agreed with Isabelle’s much-discussed outburst at the dinner table during a pivotal scene.

Both Madison and Geare provide several poignant moments in Brothers. These little girls (like their mom) experience several emotions ranging from depression to elation to utter fright, and each of their performances are remarkable. Isabelle grows so close to Uncle Tommy, she resents her father’s surprising return, and Maggie does not quite see her parents’ strife but senses something unsettling.

The character-driven drama offers little closure at its conclusion, like many wars or soldiers’ personal battles in society afterwards. Melodramatic moments sporadically litter the film, but the bulk of the material is complex and thoughtful, giving a hapless situation a sense of hope and improvement. The screenplay stays contemporary, yet keeps the plotline intact from the original, and Sheridan’s direction—minus Maguire pre-kidnapping—gives a candid look into this family’s attempt to overcome a considerable obstacle.

            U2’s song “Winter” and Maguire’s performance were both nominated for Golden Globes. Madison also was nominated for a Critics Choice Award.