Jim Sheridan's new movie 'Brothers' tells the story of Tommy and Sam Cahill, two brothers who lead very different lives.
US Marine Sam (Tobey Maguire) is preparing for a tour of Afghanistan while his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) has just got out of prison.
A drunk and a criminal Tommy is the black sheep of the family while Sam, with his army career, pretty wife and two young daughters, is the golden boy.
When an army helicopter crashes over Afghanistan the Cahill family are told Sam is dead - news which has a profound effect on them all.
Realising Sam's wife Grace (Natalie Portman) is struggling to cope Tommy stops drinking and starts helping her out around the house and with his two nieces, Isabelle (Bailee Madison) and Maggie (Taylor Geare).
Tommy's new found sense of responsibility and commitment to his family even starts to thaw the relationship between Tommy and his retired army father Hank (Sam Shepard).
Tommy feels comfortable with Grace, and the girls, and the pair grow closer.
On the other side of the world the viewer learns that Sam is alive and that following the helicopter crash he and another marine were captured by Afghan militants, presumably meant to be Al Qaeda.
As Sam's family adjust to life without him, he must use all his strength and training to stay alive, and stay sane, as he is starved and tortured by the Afghans.
Following his rescue Sam returns home and is reunited with his overjoyed family. It's not long, though, before the cracks start to appear and the Cahill's realise that war has changed Sam.
One of the great things about 'Brothers' is that it's neither formulaic or predictable, which is so refreshing in the cinema today.
Many films down through the years have looked at the after-effects of war on the soldiers who come back from battle - whether they have been prisoners of war or just suffered on the field of battle.
The perceived wisdom is often that the emotional scars of war run far deeper than the physical ones and so it is with 'Brothers' as the Sam who returns to his family is different to the one who left.
Sam can longer relate to his daughters or his wife and he seems to resent how Tommy looked out for his family while he was away. And as Sam struggles with his demons his increasingly volatile actions threaten to rip the family apart - again.
At the heart of 'Brothers' are two wonderful performances by Natalie Portman (Grace) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Tommy).
Portman is a delight as the young widowed single mum who goes about putting her life back together only to have it torn asunder when the love of her life comes back from the dead.
The news of Sam's death forces Gyllenhaal's Tommy to grow up and accept some responsibility by looking out for the family of his only brother. He must then cope with a brother who comes back from the dead a changed person.
Tobey Maguire is one of these actors I never like to see coming but by the end of the film he has usually won me over. The same is true here and his performance as the war hero returning from the battle field is chillingly effective.
While 'Brothers' is full of fine acting the surprising performances comes from Sam and Grace's two daughters, played by Baile Madison and Taylor Geare.
Baile Madison in particular has a pivotal role in the movie and Sheridan commands an unbelievably realistic and emotional performance from such a young actor.
Emotionally charged and heartbreaking 'Brothers' is a great movie which doesn't overdo any one aspect of the whole production.
Sheridan never allows the proceedings to fall into complete melodrama while he also cleverly avoids any of the clichés so often associated with this type of movie.
The best thing about 'Brothers' is you never know which way the film is going next, and the director maintains this unpredictability to the very last scene. The director has even managed to keep the film well under two hours, which he is to be commended for.
Talk of awards had once followed this film and while this may have died down somewhat there are plenty of potentially award winning performances throughout 'Brothers'.
