Brothers (2009 film)

Brothers
Promotional film poster
Directed by	Jim Sheridan
Produced by	Michael De Luca Sigurjón Sighvatsson Ryan Kavanaugh
Screenplay by	David Benioff
Based on	Brødre  by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring	Tobey Maguire Jake Gyllenhaal Natalie Portman Sam Shepard Mare Winningham Bailee Madison
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Frederick Elmes
Edited by	Jay Cassidy
Production company	Michael De Luca Productions Relativity Media Sighvatsson Films
Distributed by	Lionsgate Relativity Media
Release dates	December 4, 2009 (2009-12-04)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$26 million[1]
Box office	$43,318,349[1]

Brothers is a 2009 American psychological war thriller and a remake of Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish film Brødre, which takes place in Afghanistan and Denmark. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman and is directed by Jim Sheridan. Both films take inspiration from Homer's epic poem Odyssey.^[2] Tobey Maguire received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his performance.

Plot

Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is a Marine captain about to embark on his fourth tour of duty. He is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, Grace (Natalie Portman), and he has two young daughters, Isabelle and Maggie (Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare). Sam's brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is being released from jail for an armed robbery, before Sam departs for Afghanistan in October, 2007. News comes that Sam's helicopter has crashed over the water, killing all of the Marines aboard. In reality, he and a hometown friend, Private Joe Willis (Patrick Flueger), have been taken prisoner in a mountain village.

With Sam gone, Tommy attempts to redeem himself in the eyes of his family by wrangling old friends to help with kitchen repairs for Grace and the kids. Grace slowly sheds her previous resentment towards her brother-in-law. As months pass, Grace and Tommy bond over their mutual mourning, culminating in a passionate fireside kiss. They regret it afterward, and do not take this attraction any further, though Tommy continues to win the favor of his nieces. Meanwhile, Sam and Joe are tortured by their captors, forced to make videotaped dismissals of the military and their mission, though only Joe cracks. The captors eventually deem him useless and force Sam, at gunpoint, to beat Joe to death with a lead pipe.

Sometime later, Sam is rescued. Once Sam returns home, he drifts through encounters in a cold, paranoid daze, showing signs of severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Refusing to explain to his family what happened while he was in Afghanistan, Sam also lies to Joe's widow that he does not know how Joe died. He also believes Tommy and Grace had a sexual relationship in his absence. During Maggie's birthday party, a resentful and jealous Isabelle claims that Sam's paranoid assumptions are true: that Tommy and Grace slept together. Sam becomes enraged, destroying the newly remodeled kitchen with a crow bar and pulling a pistol on Tommy who arrives and tries to calm his brother's violent breakdown.

The police arrive, and after a frantic confrontation in which Sam holds the gun up against his head and nearly commits suicide, he reluctantly surrenders after a plea from Tommy and Grace. Sam is admitted to a mental hospital. Grace visits him and tells him that if he does not tell her what is tormenting him, he will lose her forever. Faced with this decision, Sam finally opens up about the source of his pain, confiding in her that he killed Joe and they embrace. A letter between husband and wife is read aloud, with Sam wondering if he will be able to continue living a normal life.

Cast

• Tobey Maguire as Capt. Sam Cahill
• Jake Gyllenhaal as Tommy Cahill
• Natalie Portman as Grace Cahill
• Sam Shepard as Hank Cahill
• Mare Winningham as Elsie Cahill
• Bailee Madison as Isabelle Cahill
• Taylor Geare as Maggie Cahill
• Patrick Flueger as Pvt. Joe Willis
• Carey Mulligan as Cassie Willis
• Clifton Collins, Jr. as Maj. Cavazos
• Jenny Wade as Tina
• Omid Abtahi as Yusuf
• Navid Negahban as Murad
• Enayat Delawary as Ahmed
• Ethan Suplee as Sweeney
• Arron Shiver as A.J.
• Ray Prewitt as Owen

Reception

Box office

On its opening weekend, the film opened #3 with $9,527,848 behind New Moon and The Blind Side.^[3] Since its box office debut the film has grossed $43,318,349 worldwide.^[1]

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 63% of 148 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.2 out of 10. The site's consensus is that "It plays more like a traditional melodrama than the Susanne Bier film that inspired it, but Jim Sheridan's Brothers benefits from rock-solid performances by its three leads."^[4] On Metacritic the film has a rating of 58 out of 100 based on 30 reviews.^[5] Maguire in particular received critical acclaim for his dramatic performance. Roger Ebert said that Brothers is "Tobey Maguire's film to dominate, and I've never seen these dark depths in him before."^[6] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun Times named Brothers as the Best Film of 2009.

Accolades

Of the Golden Globe nomination, Tobey Maguire said "I had no expectation about getting a nomination, but I was watching nonetheless. My wife and my son got really excited. I was sort of surprised — I was like, 'Oh, wow.' And I couldn't hear the latter part of my name." The Edge of U2 described how the band planned to celebrate the nomination. "I think we might have a pint of Guinness and eat a potato in honor of (director) Jim (Sheridan) and his great piece of work."^[7]

Home media

Brothers was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 23, 2010.

References

External links

• Official website
• Brothers at the Internet Movie Database
• Brothers at AllMovie
• Brothers at Rotten Tomatoes
• Brothers at Metacritic
• Brothers at Box Office Mojo