Home of the Brave

[KLAXXON]

Irwin Winkler delivers a spellbinding account of life after the Iraq War with the new action drama Home of The Brave. With a great cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Jessica Biel we already know the performances are going to be strong but in this time of frequent miss-firing post-war movie attempts, just how well does this one square off against the rest?

Well the entire film was shot in high definition video as opposed to film, which gives it a unique look and texture. This is especially effective during a section at the beginning of the film, which opens on our characters as soldiers in Iraq. The film starts off with the main characters involved in a deadly ambush as Marines on a humanitarian mission, with some of them dying.

Those that make it out are physically injured or mentally scarred. Upon their return back home to Washington, they find adjusting back into their former lives to be nearly impossible. Samuel L. Jackson is a surgeon who becomes an abusive alcoholic, with a son who doesn't respect his service in the military, a wife who feels estranged by his emotional withdrawal, and a career that is going downhill now that he's drinking and suffering from insomnia.

Jessica Biel is a soldier who lost her hand due to an explosion, feeling ugly and unable to communicate openly with anyone she once knew without lashing out. Brian Presley ("Port Charles", "General Hospital") suffers from the inability to focus on any particular job, haunted by the memories of not being able to save his best friend during the altercation.

The government prescribes medication and treatment, but little of it seems to help in adjusting back to normalcy, in a world that is full of petty issues and the inability to see the war as something noble, and the participants are ignored.

Despite the film itself having nothing new to offer in the way of events, it does try very hard to remain genuine in its sentiment. The characters make a believable effort to show some of the real effects that war can have on people. Compared to some of the recent war movies this certainly holds it’s own and Director Irwin Winkler does seem to keep the drama flowing consistently.

I’d recommended this to fans of Sam Jackson, as he is the one who steals the show here. Making a film on a war that is still going on today has to be done properly and there’s always an air of authenticity to the roles that he plays. Well worth a watch.

“Home of the Brave” was a wannabe Oscar movie that was released late last year but never made it into theaters nationwide. Now that the film’s Oct. 23 DVD coming-out party is a little more than a month away, I’ve given up hope that it will open in Tucson, so I’ll finally uncage my long cooped-up review:

It’s pretty sad that the war in Iraq has been going on so long that the slow-moving Hollywood machine has had ample time to generate a film about it.

“Home of the Brave” follows four soldiers who return from their tours to an apathetic society. Dogged by mental, physical and spiritual effects from combat, the protagonists find it as difficult to reacclimate to civilian life as it was to get used to the heat and danger on the front lines.

This is morose, head-shaking stuff, and director Irwin Winkler (“Life as a House,” “De-Lovely”) isn’t one to ease up on the ‘ol emotional manipulation button. We’re talking outbursts of raw rage, tearful explosions and quiet moments of loneliness. After a riveting opening sequence in which the heroes fall into a firefight while escorting a supply truck, the mood slows down and the wounded warriors are sent home. They can’t quite call themselves survivors, not until they’ve managed to adapt to society. Suddenly up is down, right is left and close loved ones now seem distant for the way they’re unable to comprehend the soldiers’ pain.

Samuel L. Jackson plays an alcoholic doctor, Jessica Biel is Vanessa, an amputee single mother who works as a teacher and Brian Presley is Tommy, a malcontent who drifts from one minimum wage job to another. Curtis “don’t-call-me-50 Cent-when-I’m acting” Jackson rounds out the foursome as Jamal, who has trouble controlling his rage.

It feels a little artificial that all four soldiers come from Spokane, Wash. and they all ran into one another on the warfront and run into each other while going through their lives back home.
Winkler needs the construct in order to establish a contrast between the way the characters deal with everyday people and how they can relate to one another.

Vanessa is so self-conscious of her prosthetic hand she can’t bring herself to flirt with men. Bitter and protective of her disability, she can only relax when she happens upon Tommy at a movie theater. They sit down for a soothing conversation, and for just a moment both find peace from the neverending war. Tommy, whose girlfriend left him while he was away, struggles with his father, who insists he join the police force and avoid psychotherapy, which he says is a sign of weakness.

Jamal lashes out against anyone he can reach, and the Samuel L. Jackson character takes his frustrations out on his family, which includes his budding anti-Bush activist son, and his liver, drinking nonstop. This only tips him further off-balance.
All four search for their disparate respites from the pain. Some generate coping mechanisms, gradually come to terms with the realization that life will never be the same; others do not. Even though gunfire and explosions are no longer around, their bravery continues to be tested.


Samuel L. Jackson ... Will Marsh
Jessica Biel ... Vanessa Price
Brian Presley ... Tommy Yates
50 Cent ... Jamal Aiken (as Curtis Jackson)
Christina Ricci ... Sarah Schivino
Chad Michael Murray ... Jordan Owens
Victoria Rowell ... Penelope Marsh
Jeffrey Nordling ... Cary (as Jeff Nordling)
Vyto Ruginis ... Hank Yates
Sam Jones III ... Billy Marsh
James MacDonald ... Ray
Sandra Nelson ... V.A. Hospital Doctor
Jack Serino ... Pvt. Shar
Brendan Wayne ... Spc. Pendilla
Mohamed Zinathlah ... Amad Kamal



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[Klaxfan]

havnt watched this.
 i must download
thanks for putting it up

[malioli]

Thanks, it's great movie!

[samspa]

Thank You