First-time feature filmmaker Jake Rademacher attempts to understand the experiences, motivations, and sacrifices made by his two brothers, both of whom enlisted to serve their country by fighting in Iraq, by joining them on the front lines and experiencing their hardships firsthand. Isaac and Joe Rademacher are soldiers. Their brother, Jake, is not. Now, in an effort to understand just why his brothers have chosen to serve their country in the way that they have, Jake travels behind the
camouflage curtain on secret missions into sniper "hide sites" in the Sunni Triangle, dodges machine-gun fire in a tense stand-off with the Iraqi Army, and follows secret reconnaissance troops on the Syrian border. Through these experiences, Jake is offered the unique opportunity to explore the bonds between soldiers on the front lines, and the effects their absence has on the loved ones awaiting their return back home. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Brothers at War would be interesting enough if it merely observed soldiers in their element as they chill behind friendly lines, but this documentary, which begins at a low key, gradually becomes intense and psychologically complicated.
Insights shared by those left behind sharpen the focus on the sacrifices made by those who go off to war -- a message that might have been clearer were the film not so self-serving.
Combining footage from the home front and the front lines, Brothers at War is the first comprehensive examination of life in Iraq through the eyes of a soldier and his loved ones.
The movie is remarkable for its level of access, yet never questions the basic justness of the cause; for all its value, Brothers at War seems too crypto-jingoistic for comfort.
As myopic as any piece of "left-wing propaganda" about the failure of the war, missing both the big picture and the human one due to its filmmaker's refusal to ask the dark questions.
Rademacher's strange vanity project ends up saying a lot more about his family issues and need to be seen as a swaggering badass than it does about the day-to-day life of soldiers in Iraq.
An honest documentary about the lives of American soldiers in Iraq, initially conceived by the filmmaker as a way to portray the routine and experiences of his two brothers serving there, but then growing later into something quite revealing about the relationship between them.
this was great for a army film but it did have Marines also. love the real action it showed. got to see more of whats really going on. i hope there are more to come
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