Home of the Brave (2006)

Three soldiers struggle to readjust to life at home after returning home from a lengthy tour in Iraq.

Director:

Irwin Winkler

Writers:

Mark Friedman (screenplay), Mark Friedman (story)

Stars:

Samuel L. Jackson, 50 Cent, Jessica Biel

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Will Marsh
Jessica Biel	...	Vanessa Price
Brian Presley	...	Tommy Yates
50 Cent	...	Jamal Aiken (as Curtis Jackson)
Christina Ricci	...	Sarah Schivino
Chad Michael Murray	...	Jordan Owens
Victoria Rowell	...	Penelope Marsh
Jeffrey Nordling	...	Cary (as Jeff Nordling)
Vyto Ruginis	...	Hank Yates
Sam Jones III	...	Billy Marsh
James MacDonald	...	Ray
Sandra Nelson	...	V.A. Hospital Doctor
Jack Serino	...	Pvt. Shar
Brendan Wayne	...	Spc. Pendilla
Mohamed Zinathlah	...	Amad Kamal

Storyline

The day after they get the word they'll go home in two weeks, a group of soldiers from Spokane are ambushed in an Iraqi city. Back stateside we follow four of them - a surgeon who saw too much, a teacher who's a single mom and who lost a hand in the ambush, an infantry man whose best friend died that day, and a soldier who keeps reliving the moment he killed a civilian woman. Each of the four has come home changed, each feels dislocation. Group therapy, V.A. services, halting gestures from family and colleagues, and regular flashbacks keep the war front and center in their minds. They're angry, touchy, and explosive: can a warrior find peace back home?

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Plot Keywords:

flashback | blood splatter | voice over narration | kitchen | family relationships | 

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Taglines:

Coming home is the real battle.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for war violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

3L Filmverleih [Germany] MGM [United States]

Country:

USA Morocco

Language:

English Spanish Arabic

Release Date:

1 March 2007 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

A Volta dos Bravos

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$25,261, 13 May 2007, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$49,753

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Millennium Films, Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films (EFO Films)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci appeared in Black Snake Moan (2006).

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Goofs

Sarah is shown a box of memorabilia, in particular a photo of Sarah which Tommy claims the deceased carried with him all the time whilst on duty. However the photo is pristine, not a single mark or crease present.

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Quotes

Penelope Marsh: Will, what happened over there?
Will Marsh: I don't really remember. You know. It's like a dream. Hazy dream.
Penelope Marsh: Then tell me. I wanna know.
Will Marsh: Do you? Wanna know what a blast wound looks like? What an OR in the desert smells like? What really happens to them? How they die? You really wanna know? You want us to come back like nothing ever happened. You don't want to get your hands dirty with the details.

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Connections

References Forever Lulu (2000)

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Soundtracks

Taps
(uncredited)

User Reviews

Brave film about journeys to Iraq and back

Irwin Winkler's "Home of the Brave" is much more than "just a movie," even if, as such, it's a partially flawed one. It is, without question, an important, thought- and emotion-provoking film, certain to be controversial.

Regardless of its merits, "Home" is brave, worthwhile, even admirable in its pioneering coverage of 150,000 soldiers "over there," and roughly the same number of returnees, who are trying to return in fact, not only in name.

This story of a group of National Guard soldiers from Spokane serving in Iraq and returning home is a schizophrenic experience: you are watching scenes straight out of last night's TV news, and yet feel as if you were back in the 1940s, in the era of "The Best Years of Our Lives" war movies, and the 1970s "Born on the Fourth of July" type Vietnam veteran sagas.

Given the subject, it's to Winkler's credit that "Home of the Brave" (a confusing title choice, considering the many movies with that name) remains firmly neutral about the current debate central to all politics. The film portrays both the support for and the opposition to the war, but favors neither. Winkler (producer for 40 years, including "Rocky" II-VI) sticks with characters in the context of the war, not making mouthpieces of them for or against a cause.

Mouthpieces, no; cardboard figures, some. Writing (by Mark Friedman) and acting are fair-to-problematic. The overemotional writing and excessively melodramatic acting combine to present a drama of extremes, denying the existence of true majority response to trauma: simple coping. Murder, suicide, insanity do occur in postwar situations, but most people, in my own experience, deal with such problems - more or less successfully - and go on with their lives.

In "Home of the Brave," you find no such "middle of the road," only extremes. After suspenseful (and depressing) Iraqi war scenes, shot in Morocco by Tony Pierce-Roberts, in a remarkably focused way that allows rare visual clarity in the midst of combat confusion, the film shifts to Spokane.

There, we follow - among many others - the lives of a combat surgeon (Samuel L. Jackson), a driver who loses an arm (Jessica Biel), three high-school buddies with intertwining stories (Chad Michael Murray, Brian Presley, and rap star 50 Cent). There are some quiet moments and reality-based situations, but the constant high-voltage !DRAMA! reveals and partially invalidates a manipulative hand pulling the (heart) strings.