When you make a film about a war there are bound to be politics involved. I mean, come on, this is Hollywood, for crying out loud. Every film must decide, at some point, whether it is for or against the particular war that it portrays – or at least that is how critics like myself will see it. In this light, Irwin Winkler’s Home of the Brave seems to have a bit of an identity crisis, never really deciding whether it wants to be for or against the war in Iraq – but in this case, indecision may not be the film’s only fault.
The story centers around members of an Army Reserve squadron from Spokane, Washington, all of whom were involved in a terrible convoy ambush right before they were due to come home after a lengthy tour in Iraq. It shows how the war affected their lives once they returned home, all of them struggling greatly to return back to normal life.
Samuel L. Jackson, in a role with no snakes and no badass-ness, plays a doctor who battles alcoholism and a son who wears a “Buck Fush” t-shirt to school to speak out against the war. Jessica Biel plays Vanessa, a member of a maintenance company who lost her hand during the convoy attack. Brian Presley and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson play cavalry soldiers, both of whom were wounded and lost a close friend (Chad Michael Murray) during the battle.
The film begins in Iraq, showing the brutal day that changed the lives of these soldiers. The battle scene does not linger, but it does stick around long enough to make its point. The scenes of the streets of Iraq before the battle, slow pans with little score behind them, remind the audience of the depressing nature of Iraq’s situation. The actual battle sequence itself is brief but brutal; Winkler does a good job of showing the blood to the audience, but never shoving it in our faces.
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When is this movie coming