brothers (2009). directed by jim sheridan.

someone in the star yesterday wrote about this movie, "who would choose tobey maguire over jake gyllenhaal?" little did i know such trivialization shows that the reviewer have not watched this movie at all. which is a shame, because someone who reviews something should have a look at that thing first before firing away. 

i like anti-wars movie in general. we live in a time where we are anesthetized by it. we see war on tv and bloody bodies without feeling we should do something about it. we are numb. i don't blame people for not seeing it as their problem - we are concerned about our work, crazy bosses, rising cost of living, what shirt we ought to wear tomorrow. we don't care because we don't see the effect of war in our lives. that is the purpose of anti-war movies - to bring the effect of war right into our living room, hopefully it makes us think how war affect some of us, who are regular people like us too. 

this movie is a remake of danish director susanne bier's brødre (original title) (2004) (english: brothers). i watched one of her films efter brylluppet (original title) (2006) (english: after the wedding) starring mads mikkelsen exploring the theme of charity and familial responsibility - does it begin at home or does one have to be in the slums of india to do good? she has a way with intricate plots and creating emotional climax. after watching sheridan's brothers i feel i should do bier's the honour of watching. this film explores the complex dynamic of an army family, maguire as the somewhat overachieving brother sam who is the pride of his father casts a long shadow on his parolee brother, tommy (gyllenhaal). sam goes to afghanistan on a mission where he is captured and forced to kill a fellow marine, leaving him shocked and traumatized. while his family tries to deal with the new of his death, tommy tries to fill his brother's shoes and in the process becomes more responsible. it is not long after that sam returns home, a changed man. 

i haven't seen much of acting muscles from tobey maguire and was pleasantly surprised with the efforts he put in for this movie. we expect people who go to war to act macho and unfeeling about it but we often forget that they are people too, who fights for a bogey enemy and often had to repress all that horror to appear "it doesn't affect me". their families are often left behind for long periods of time, children who hardly know their fathers and wives who are lonely. all for the purpose of killing a bunch of people we have no problem with, in a distant land. makes us think, this war, what are we really fighting for?

Sam Cahill: [Last lines] I don't know who said 'only the dead have seen the end of war'. I have seen the end of war. The question is: can I live again?