BROTHERS (USA 2009) **
Directed by Jim Sheridan

Based on the 2004 Danish film BRODRE by Susanne Bier, this Hollywood adaptation actually makes more sense as it deals with a brother going off to fight in the Afghanistan War.  Director Jim Sheridan (MY LEFT FOOT, IN AMERICA), no stranger to family dramas, deals with the effects of the social/political climate on a typical American family.

The family concerns two brothers, one black sheep Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) just out of jail and one pride of the family, Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) about to be sent to Afghanistan.  Father Hank (Sam Shepard) is always on Tommy’s case.  Tommy takes it to look after his brother’s wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two daughters (Taylor Geare) and (Bailee Madison) when Tommy is thought missing in action.  Tommy eventually shows up, war-shocked, suspecting Sam of having an affair with Grace.

All this sounds like good solid drama.  But director Sheridan takes things too seriously unlike Bier in her original film.  Sheridan takes great pains to show the marines at the camp, the torture of the marines Sam and the private under him while emphasizing the father/son conflict between Hank and Tommy.  To make matters worse, a lot of time is devoted to the Grace’s family and her daughters so that once the film is an hour through, the audience is uncertain where the story is headed.

Sheridan uses drama to full effect.  A scene with the delivery of bad news (in this case the death of Sam) can be done in many ways.  In Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, for example, the scene is shown in silence followed by the fainting of the mother on the kitchen floor.  In BROTHERS, Sheridan follows the news with a close up of Portman’s emotional expression.

But from the title, it is assumed that the brotherly conflict is the issue.  But in the original, the film centred on the wife played by Connie Neilson and while viewing Sheridan’s version, it feels that this is the direction the film is headed.  If it is, the plot is greatly distracted by the two powerful performances of Maguire and Gylenhaal.  The film also wavers between the thriller and drama genres.

All the events lead to the climatic confrontation of the two brothers when Tommy loses it.  But one is finally disappointed by the cop-out ending when Sam gives Tommy a call saying: “You are my brother, Tommy.” BROTHERS is forgettable despite strong lead performances.