Brothers (2009)

Sam Cahill: You know what I did to get back to you? You know what I did? 

"There are two sides to every family"

I've seen Brothers twice now, and my love for it went down a little on the second watch. I noticed a few scenes that were overplayed and badly written. Still, this is a really good drama and anti-war film. It shows the effects of war on a man and how he struggles coming back to normal everyday life. There's good character development at the beginning with Sam. We see how much he loves his family and how happy he is around them. That makes his lack of openness when he comes back have a little more power. The film is powerful despite the melodrama. This is one of the few films I've seen where the melodrama doesn't take away from the power of the situation. 

The film is about a man who goes to Afghanistan and is supposedly killed. In reality, he is a prisoner of war who goes through unspeakable things. Back in America, his family is comforted by his brother. When he comes back he isn't the same man, and he also has some accusations to throw around about his brother and wife's relationship. The story is really interesting and drove by good performances from Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman. Portman gave one of the best performances here, up to that point in her career. There's something about her that makes her seem very real, and allows her to nail this performance with a great deal of believability. 

This has been criticized a lot for being overly melodramatic. I can't say that it isn't either, but I never felt the melodrama rose to a level that hurt the film. There's a lot of screaming, crying, and smashing, but the story is emotional and so are the characters. Are some scenes overwritten for a tearjerking effect? Yeah. Still, I don't think the overall power of the film was hurt by the melodrama, but that is just my opinion on the matter. That's also coming from someone who normally hates melodrama. This is one of those rare occasions where it didn't ruin a film for me.

It isn't going to win any subtlety contests, but based on the central performances and the sheer power of the story and how the events unfold before our eyes; I think it is good. Good actors doing good work in a film that is worthy of the performances. I can't say the movie is perfect, but overall it works and gets the point across.