Brothers

Rating: 8
Genre: Drama, Mature audience
Starring: Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham

One brother Sam is a Marine captain headed for another tour of duty in Afghanistan. He has a wife and two young daughters, and is a source of great pride to his father who was also a Marine. The other brother Tommy is returning home from a short prison sentence, and suffers in the eyes of Dad in comparison with Sam. Word comes that Sam has been killed in action. The movie shifts back and forth between home where Tommy is trying to be a good guy looking after Sam’s family and Afghanistan where Sam is not dead but is being held in brutal captivity by the Taliban. Sam is eventually set free by American forces and returns home. Unsurprisingly, he is carrying deep scars, and is unable to cope. Tension inevitably develops between brothers. I found the movie absorbing. Maguire and Gyllenhaal seem well cast as the brothers and Natalie Portman is a definite plus as the wife.