Brothers (***1/4)

Who’d have figured, back in 2004 when Susanne Bier directed the original Danish version of this Afghanistan war drama, that years later a present-tense American version could be filmed? Both version deals with a soldier presumed lost in battle, here played by Tobey Maguire. Like most of the recent crop of American war films, the focus is on the trauma of war to the soldiers fighting it. In this case, it is also on how that plays out with those left at home—the distraught wife (Natalie Portman), the just-out-of-prison older brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s also felt the disfavor of his father (Sam Shepard), the father himself, and the children who adapt quickly as their uncle takes up some of the father role. The audience knows, as the family does not, what has happened to the soldier. So a lot of the movie feels like mere prelude to what will happen in the last half hour or so. Still, the acting is very good, maybe Portman’s best role, and that last part is powerful, albeit showy. It’s a smart tearjerker, for sure, as well as a film about ethics and family dynamics.

IMDB link

viewed 11/30/09 at Ritz East (PFS screening); review written unknown date and posted 4/16/10

Jarhead (**3/4)

Based on a Gulf War memoir by ex-Marine sniper Anthony Swofford, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead reflects that it in that it feels more like a collection of memories than a single story. The beginning’s a lot like those training scenes you’ve seen in any number of war films, from Full Metal Jacket to An Officer and a Gentleman. Jamie Foxx plays the tough staff sergeant. Peter Sarsgaard is Swofford’s rifle partner, as gung-ho as Swofford is wary, though his character could have used more fleshing out. The film’s end is, but for a very brief epilogue, the war’s end. In the Gulf War, the pre-war—the buildup of troops and then the waiting—lasted much longer than the combat, and Jarhead reflects that. Although I really can’t say, it seems like an accurate portrayal of Swofford’s experience, and the life of a solider generally. However, accurately portraying boredom is not always compelling drama. Without a strong narrative thread, Jarhead is a film where your interest will wax and wane with each scene. There’s not much politics, but one of the more powerful sequences is a reminder of the stiff toll of the war (or war in general) on civilians. If the film has a central idea, it’s that the military is about engendering the will to aggression, and that different men find different ways to draw off that aggression as they await actual combat. For me, the underrated Three Kings remains the definitive Gulf War movie.

IMDb link

circulated via email 11/10/05 and posted 10/9/13