Irish director Jim Sheridan ("In the Name of the Father") has ventured to remake Susanne Bier's award-winning drama "Brødre" after the rather unsuccessful 50Cent film "Get rich or die trying". While "Brothers" largely sticks closely to the original, it has become a drama more than worth watching, even for connoisseurs of the original, thanks to some elements of its own and an extremely strong cast.
Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) can look back on his life with pride. He has a loving wife in Grace (Natalie Portman) by his side, is the happy father of two adorable daughters, and has been decorated twice for his service in the Army. His brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the exact opposite: Tommy lives his life without considering the consequences for himself or others. He has just been released from prison and has no real perspective for his future. For Hank (Sam Shepard), the father of the two unequal brothers, only Sam counts, who is seen off to his latest mission in Afghanistan at a dinner party. When a short time later the news arrives that Sam has been shot down and declared dead during a mission, the world falls apart for Grace and Hank in particular. Only Tommy seems to rise above. He lovingly cares for his nieces and sister-in-law, who soon begins to see him through a whole new set of eyes. But then the unbelievable happens: Sam returns home, battered and mentally unstable, after weeks as a prisoner of war. And the newly consolidated family is once again put to the test by Sam's hostile and enormously self-destructive behavior.
In essence, a remake of this story wouldn't really have been necessary, as this new version hardly gains any new aspects from the original. And yet Sheridan's version also has its right to exist. The enormously strong performance of Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal alone, who visually make the perfect pair of brothers, makes the movie worth seeing. It is also to Sheridan's credit that he tries to lighten up the very serious and sometimes almost depressing events with some lighter moments. So the viewer isn't overwhelmed by the heaviness of the content, but gets the chance to take a breath now and then, to lean back and even smile a little here and there.
Whoever thinks that the intensity of the original is diluted by this is mistaken. On the contrary: precisely because the entire film is not dominated by dramaturgical heaviness, the moments filled with gloom, despair and rage can play out their power much more obviously and almost effectively. In this, Tobey Maguire's also obvious physical devotion to this heavy role in particular lingers long in the memory.
Admittedly, feel-good cinema looks different. Who is looking for the opportunity to escape from reality in the cinema or just to be entertained for two hours, will find "Brothers" rather difficult to please. But if you appreciate intense, in every respect convincing and captured in haunting images acting cinema from America, this very good remake can definitely be recommended. Worth seeing
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
