Brothers 2009

     This movie was originally filmed by Susanne Bier’s, it is a Danish film titled Brodre or Brothers from 2004 and the plot is basically the same.  Before leaving on his second tour in Afghanistan, Marine Captain Sam Cahill, a leader, an athlete, a good husband and father, welcomes his screw-up brother Tommy home from prison.  Tommy’s crime was robbing a bank?  In Afghanistan, Sam's helicopter is shot down and all occupants are presumed to be dead.  In reality, Sam is wasting away as a prisoner in a remote encampment.  Tommy tries to take care of Sam’s widow and her two children.  The family doesn't know that Sam is not dead but imprisoned, Sam experiences unbearable horrors!!  So much so that when he's rescued and returns home, he's silent, detached, without any of his is former personality and he's convinced his wife and brother have slept together.  The demons of war possess him but what can he do to silence them?

     This is a mature drama about how the horrors of war affect both a soldier and his grieving family.  It has several disturbing scenes of war, torture and domestic disputes.  These scenes make it far too intense for tweens and even younger teens.  The war sequences involve atrocities, a near-suicide and two startling killings that are chillingly realistic.  There is strong language, sexuality is not too graphic but there are a few passionate kisses and one shot of an obviously undressed, quilt-covered couple in bed.

Note:  Imdb 7.1* out of 10* with 111,967 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 64% with 158 critic reviews 62%  with 100,000+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Metacritic 58 out of 100 with 31 critic reviews 8.5 out of 10 with 170 user scores, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen 4* out of 5*, age 17+ The Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, empire online 3* out of 5* Will Lawrence.

Special Note:  Jake Gyllenhaal learned of the death of his close friend Heath Ledger  while he was in the middle of shooting a scene for this film.  Gyllenhaal immediately walked off the set and returned to finish the scene two days later.  Then he then took a longer bereavement leave before he was ready to continue with the rest of his scenes.  Jake Gyllenhaal wanted to play Sam and Tobey Maguire wanted to play Tommy.  Jim Sheridan did not feel Maguire was convincing enough to play the "bad" brother so they switched the roles.  During one intense early prison scene, Gyllenhaal jokingly reached into his pocket and took out a picture of Ledger to stick on the prison wall.  This was a gesture like prisoners putting pictures of loved ones on the wall but Jake's was Health.  That was a hilarious moment and it was nice but this was before Ledger's death.

Mistakes:  In the beginning of the movie, little Maggie, tells her grandfather, Hank, that her birthday is "in the spring." Hank agrees with this, commenting that her birthday is March 10. However, March 10 is still winter.  Winter ends March 21.  When Maggie is painting the kitchen and spills the bin on Sweeney, in one cut the paint is covering all of that portion of his clothes.  In in the very next cut, there is a spot that shows parts of his shirt color?  In the next cut (when he says lets hug it out) the paint is covering the entire portion again?