Brotherly Love

Sam Cahill is a Captain in the US Marines and he is about to go on his fourth tour of duty of Afghanistan. He is leaving behind his family but knows they will be safe and fine without him. Unfortunately for Sam his helicopter gets shot down and he is presumed dead. New of his death reached home and a funeral takes place for him.

Tommy is Sam's brother, he is not very liked by Sam's wife as he is a bit of a naughty boy but he steps in a tries to help grace and the children come to terms with Sam's death and get some normality back into their lives. This is a hard task for Tommy as he has always lived in his brother shadow and he has never been good enough for his father.
Sam was not actually killed when his helicopter came down but he has now been kidnapped by Afghan people along with one of his men. He is being tortured and treated badly but he always has the thought of his family back home to help keep him strong.

Can Tommy remember his place in his brother family and not over step the mark and will Sam ever return home, if he does what impact will it have on these brothers and their relationship?
It was originally over a year ago when I first saw the trailers for this film but I forgot all about it and only recently re saw them and decided to get the film. The trailer made it look very good and interesting and I am pleased to say that it did not disappoint in any way. The storyline for me was a little hard hitting and emotional to watch at times as it hit home for me that I cold quite easily be in Grace's place but the way it was told was excellent. There was no point during the film when I thought it had gone a little to far or become unbelievable and I found the acting helped with the telling of the story and the emotions of what we were watching.

The role of Sam was played by Tobey Maguire and he was very good. He was a typical Marine and looked good and fit, I had to laugh at the haircut though as it was a typical basin cut which all the Marines seem to have in these films. He was a nice and gentle man at the start of the film and he clearly loved his family. I thought he became tough when he put his uniform on and liked the change in his character. He managed to portray both roles well and make them both believable. I did find him slightly harder to watch as the film moved on as he became a completely different character and he was not a nice one. His brother Tommy was played by Jake Gyllenhaal and for me he was definitely the stronger of the two roles. He started out as a layabout who had no real cares and I did enjoy watching him change and grow as the story developed. He looked good and suited the role and he delivered all of his lines with ease and made them believable. He worked very well on screen with Natalie Portman who played the role of Grace. She played a good part and I felt quite close to her and felt all of her emotions, she did a great job of getting them across without over playing them. She was strong yet had her weak moments and I loved seeing how she dealt with them.
We did have a few good and strong support actors in the film and the main ones were the two daughters, Isabelle and Maggie, they were both brilliant and easy to watch. I though they both did a super job with the way they too managed to get their emotions across on screen and I predict a good future for both young actresses. Other actors in the film included, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham, Patrick Flueger and Carey Mulligan, they were all good roles and they were a good mix of characters.

The majority of the film was set in America and mainly in the home of Grace and Sam, we did get a few outside shots and they were nice to see and fitted well into the film, the other side of the story was set in Afghanistan and these scenes were all very different from the home based ones. We got desert, sand and rocks and hubby said that they showed a good representation of what Afghanistan and the people they were like. It was easy to see where the story was as the two settings were so different. We could clearly see that the scenes were filmed on location as we had no dodgy back drops or sets at all. We did have some very good special effects in the film and they did blend effortlessly into the film. The effects which were used for the violence and brutality scenes was that good that I did have to look away for some of them as they looked that real.
The music for me was not very memorable and I cannot remember a single track which was played, I don't know if this is a good factor as it meant it blended and worked very well or whether it means it was boring and easily forgotten, either way it is not a soundtrack I will be going out to buy.

The DVD does have some bonus features on it and this includes:-
Audio commentary with Director Jim Sheridan,
Remade in the USA: How Bredre became Brothers
Jim Sheridan: Film and family

I have not watched any of these bonus features as I am not a fan of things like this so I am not able to make comment on them.
The running time of the film is 101 minutes and I did find this to be a good length with the story moving at a good steady pace form start to finish. The rate is a 15 and I do definitely agree with this, there is swearing from near enough the beginning and we do get a few scenes of strong violence. The DVD can be bought for just £5 now and I think this is a bargain price.

I am more than happy to be giving this film the full 5 stars, if I had to find one negative in this film then it would be the ending as for me it was left slightly open and no definite ending was given but this is only my opinion as hubby found the ending to be good and fitting for the story. The acting is superb and so to is the whole story. This is definitely one to watch.