Review: Brothers

Part family drama, part war movie — Brothers is a well-made intense film that has enough drama, action, and light-hearted moments that it should intrigue and find a broad audience. If nothing else it includes some solid Oscar-worthy performances from Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman that are worth the price of admission alone.

Sam Cahill (Maguire) and his wife Grace (Portman) were high school sweethearts who got married, had two kids — Maggie (Taylor Geare) and Isabelle (Bailee Madison) — and live a generally ideal family life. Sam is also a respected captain in the Marines and is about to head back to Afghanistan on a new mission. Meanwhile, Sam’s brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) has been in prison for a few years for robbing a bank and is just being released before Sam heads out. Grace is not a fan of Tommy and neither is their father Hank (Sam Shepard) who looks down on him for not being as good a man as Sam.

While in Afghanistan, a helicopter Sam is riding in gets shot down and he and Private Joe Willis (Patrick Flueger) are taken hostage. The Marines believe Sam to be dead and inform Grace of this news. Months pass and Sam and Joe are being tortured daily for information on their mission. Back home Grace and Tommy are becoming close friends. He’s been helping her around the house and is filling in as a father figure for the kids. The two of them are also falling for each other.

Then Sam is rescued. He returns home a changed, cold man and has no feelings for Grace and the kids. All he can think about is whether Tommy slept with her while he was a prisoner fighting for his life in Afghanistan. Consumed by these thoughts, he starts to crack and then finally snaps.

Brothers is a film that relies on strong outings from the key cast in order to work. This is a side of Maguire we’ve never seen and we can thank director Jim Sheridan for getting this performance out of him. He led Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker to Oscars in 1989 for My Left Foot and knows how to push his cast to the limit (Day-Lewis was also nominated for an Oscar in Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father but lost to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia). Gyllenhaal and Portman have never been so sincere onscreen either and I was also impressed with the young Bailee Madison. This kid is powerful and is sure to take Hollywood by storm for years to come.

I have not seen the 2004 Danish film Brødre which Brothers is based on so I can’t compare the two. On its own though Brothers is an excellent drama that has a strong, mature script and isn’t afraid to switch gears when you expect it to go a certain direction. It’s a film I predict will grow over time and find new viewers along the way.

*** out of 5 stars

Rated R
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal
Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Official Site IMDb

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: Everybody’s Fine, Up in the Air, PAA, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Red Cliff, Armored

Top image: Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman in Brothers. Courtesy Alliance Films.