Brothers   Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Sam Shepard Lions Gate Home Entertainment RRP: £17.99 LGD94192 Certificate: 15 Available 07 June 2010

When Capt. Sam Cahill goes missing, presumed dead, in Afghanistan, his family have to come to terms with their loss. His brother Tommy, once a small time crook, finds himself looking after his brother’s widow and in the process growing as a man, until one day his brother returns...

Brothers (2009 - 1 hr, 40 min, 18 sec) is a remake of the 2004 Danish film Brødre. The film was directed by Jim Sheridan and won the Irish Film and Television Award for best direction and was nominated for a further eight awards.

The film is really an odd mixture or war drama and sentimental love story. Tobey Maguire plays Sam who far from being dead has been captured by the Taliban. Our initial view of him is one of hardened warrior as he continues to press his cell mate to tell their captors nothing, but underneath Sam will do whatever he need to survive and when he is finally pushed beyond his personal limits he kills his comrade in an effort to stay alive. The tragedy is that they would have been rescued the following day, so now Sam must return home, a supposed hero with the hidden knowledge of what he did.

Oddly enough this isn’t really the focus of the film as it attempts to explore what happens to the loved ones left behind, the difficult silences the arguments and finally acceptance and the inevitable reconciliation. Jake Gyllenhaal, plays Tommy, who seems, at the beginning of the film, to be everything his brother isn’t. He’s a small time low life, a disappointment to his father, also a career soldier. When he thinks that his brother is dead Tommy, at first falls apart, lashing out in his anger before he takes on his brother's role in looking after his surviving wife and child.

Natalie Portman, as Sam’s wife Grace, has the least to do in the film, but acquits herself well nonetheless. Of course things change and Portman’s character comes into her own once Sam returns from war carrying the awful burden of his secret.

The film comes with a full length audio commentary from director Jim Sheriden which discusses why the movie was remade and some of the decisions which he took, along with the usual back slapping all round. Remade in the USA: How Brødre Became Brothers (12 min, 14 sec) which covers much of the same material, but this time with contributions from the cast and crew, and lastly Jim Sheridan: Film and Family (15 min, 13 sec) with the director talking about his films in general and how this influenced Brothers.

The movie was filmed in Digital Video, so the picture is about as faultless as you can get for a DVD, though one suspects that the Blu-ray will look even better. The film has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, with a punchy Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound track.

It’s not up there with, say The Deer Hunter, but the performances are strong and the story engaging. There are parts which seem to jar, watching Sam kill his mate with a metal pipe whilst his wife is playing hose with his brother is a disconcerting juxtaposing of images, but then maybe that was the point.

7

Charles Packer