homeofthebrave

Home of the Brave

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

"Home of the Brave," the first major film that deals with the problems of veterans returning from Iraq,opens at a National Guard station in southern Iraq. The soldiers are ecstatic about receiving the word that they'll soon to be demobilized. This jubilant feeling is interrupted by one last humanitarian mission that takes a tragic turn with a bloody ambush, resulting in casualties, subsequently taking its toll on every soldier physically and mentally. Once all have gone back to their hometown of Spokane, Washington, It becomes obvious from the beginning that readjusting to ordinary civilian life might be just as mentally hard as being in Iraq. Most are diagnosed with post-traumatic disorder and must struggle to find jobs, a task just as hard as it was before.

The film revolves around four central characters. Jamal Aiken (Curtis Jackson) is trapped in an unrelenting guilt trip after killing an innocent Iraqi woman. He's been angry at all the time, a predicament that brings him to engage in a veterans' group session with Tommy (Brian Presley). Vanessa Price (Jessica Biel), a cargo specialist who lost her arm to a bomb detonator, is saved by Will Marsh(Samuel Jackson), a life-saving valiant of surgical improvisation. She now uses a prosthetic hand to do her single-parenting back home, trying to adjust to the permanent nature of her handicap through a series of hardships.

Tommy and Jordan (Chad Micheal Muurray) were closed friends when he lost Jordan at his last mission; his devastation has scared him to deak with his future life. And last, there is Will Marsh (Samuel Jackson), who hits the bottle and gets into a extremely wild mood-swing that prompts his wife Penelope (VictoriaRowell) to suggeset he tackle his demons by getting a counselor, and leads to son Billy (Sam Jones) to have to cope with estrangement from his father.

Throughout, the film tracks back to these men's tumbling paths to normal life. They slowly take in what life is offering; one of them, Tommy, goes so far as to enlist again, because that's the only place he can find himself able to make a contribution. There's a glimmering moment in a humanitarian misson (although this footage was shot in Morocco), which is powerfully driven and brilliantly executed.

But, even though the approach to this subject is honorable, director Irwin Winkler seems rather to fail in fully developing those central, supposedly more compelling, characters with first-time screenwriter Mark Friedman. This is particularly so by not giving the men their own political viewpoints and by allowing most scenes to succumb to predictable effects.
This is a braveness that will make it hard to win over the home crowd.

Directed by Irwin Winkler
Written by Mark Friedman
Director of photography: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Edited by Clayton Halsey
Music by Stephen Endelman
Production designers: Jonathan McKinstry and Warren Alan Young
Produced by Rob Cowan, George Furla and Avi Lerner
Released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Running time: 101 minutes.

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson (Will Marsh)
Jessica Biel (Vanessa Price)
Christina Ricci (Sarah Schivino)
Curtis Jackson (Jamal Aiken)
Chad Michael Murray (Jordan Owens)
Victoria Rowell (Penelope Marsh)
Sam Jones III (Billy Marsh),
and Brian Presley (Tommy Yates).