Brothers!!!

The 2009 drama, 'Brothers' stars Natalie Portman, Tobey McGuire and Jake Gyllenhaal and is directed by Jim Sheridan. The film centers on Sam Cahill(McGuire) and his wife, Grace(Portman) and children, during the war in Afghanistan in 2007. Sam is in the Marines and is deployed to Afghanistan, while his brother Tommy(Gyllenhaal) is coming home the first time since he went to prison. While Sam is gone, Tommy decides to try and change his life and make more of an effort with his sister-in-law and nieces by spending more time with them. But, when Sam goes missing life begins to get harder and harder. Can Grace and her children cope with the loss of a husband and father or will their family forever be destroyed?


WARNING: SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!

'Brothers' was an interesting take on a modern-day war drama film. I enjoyed certain aspects of the film and the acting but the story line itself wasn't the greatest. I loved the acting. Each actor brought something to the table. Portman was her usual best, Gyllenhaal was phenomenal and McGuire blew me out of the water. Portman was warm, and caring it was a little hard to believe that she could have two children and at their age because of her appearance, but she had all the motherly qualities that made it believable. Jake Gyllenhaal was awesome as the older brother, he was really willing to try and better himself and at times I felt very sorry for his character. He was vulnerable and sad, but was too hard to show his true feelings. Tobey McGuire truly surprised me with his performance. He was believable and his character was in a constant struggle which was remarkable to watch, scene after scene. The intensity of this film was so high, I couldn't take it after awhile. McGuire had such a strong intimidating presence that it was somewhat scary to watch what he may or may not do next.
The story line was a little weak, Sam gets deployed and goes missing and Tommy and Grace begin to get close and start to enjoy each other's company.  When Sam is found, he is never truly found. His mind is completely lost. It was interesting to see that even though these soldiers come home with all their limbs and barely scraped up, but their mentally bruised and destroyed. This film displays how a soldier deals with what happened over seas. I thought that was unique, because most films they show the soldiers either die or come home to their families completely fine, even though they witnessed these horrible events. This film really screws with your mind and makes the audience realize how awful life is over there and how awful it becomes after your home. It's a depressing film, and is based on one family's suffering of what war can really do to your life and your family's life. But, unfortunately the ending doesn't sum anything up and nothing is really resolved. So, I didn't particularly enjoy it for that reason.

I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tobey McGuire and to anyone who likes war dramas. There are some parts that are gruesome. If you have seen this film, please share your thoughts and comments without giving anything away!!!