Home of the Brave (2006)

 

            “Home of the Brave” was an Oscar-bait movie about Iraqi War veterans who return to the US with serious PTSD problems. It was co-written and directed by Irwin Winkler. It opened in Dec., 2006 so it would be eligible for awards. The experience probably gave the producers PTSD because the movie was a major bomb and was excuriated by the critics.

            The film focuses on four Army National Guardsmen who are all mentally and/or physically scarred by one day in the Iraqi War. Two weeks before their unit was scheduled to return home. They are part of a convoy doing that “hearts and minds” thing. The trucks are carrying medical supplies to a clinic. The convoy is ambushed. The attack starts with an IED hidden in a dead dog. Sgt. Price (Jessica Biel) goes home with a prosthetic hand. Specialist Aiken (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) suffers a back injury. Specialist Yates (Brian Presley) has a friend die in his arms. Lt. Col. Marsh (Samuel L. Jackson) is traumatized by dealing with all the wounded on that day. Not only is there an influx of casualties (and several amputations are needed), but the clinic comes under mortar fire.  

            The four return home to various scenarios. Price gets her teaching job back, but having a prosthetic hand is not optimal for a physical education teacher. Yates does not get his old job at the gun store back. (Ironic right.) He turns to drugs to numb his recollection of the death of his friend. His father discourages him from seeing a shrink. One theme of the movie is the public is clueless about mental damages war causes. Marsh is having trouble reintegrating with his family. He is the vet who takes to drinking. His son is the clicheish anti-war child who thinks his father fought for a bad cause. He gets in trouble at school, of course. Aiken is the vet who is bitter and angry towards the Veteran’s Administration for denying him benefits. The four paths cross. One of them is going to die in a hostage-taking situation.

            It is not surprising that on the surface the movie was hopeful of awards consideration. It has a good cast and emotionally scarred characters. However, it tries to hard be a message picture. There have been some excellent films that have addressed PTSD. “The Best Years of Their Lives” is outstanding partly because it brought the problem to audiences back when it was called “combat fatigue”. That movie set a high standard for what “Home of the Brave” attempts. Both movies show multiple character arcs. “Home of the Brave” adds a fourth veteran, but sometimes quantity is not quality. There have been more recent movies that have addressed veterans returning from Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Some have been very good (“Thank You For Your Service”) and one is outstanding (“Born on the Fourth of July”). “Home of the Brave” is a sincere effort to join the better movies in the subgenre, but it tries to do too much. Four arcs intersecting is too artificial. And each character has an arc that has been done before. They are all stereotypes. It’s almost as though the movie was made to be required viewing at VA hospitals. And I hope that it helped relatives and friends of Iraq and Afghanistan to understand why their son, husband, or father returned changed.

            The movie is ironically at its best when it is depicting that horrible day in Iraq. The combat scenes stand out which means a movie that wants to be very anti-war is at its best when it is showing the cause, not the effect. The movie can be tough viewing because all the characters had legitimate problems. But that is diluted by the ending which is too hopeful. The solutions to some of their problems are the cliched loving wife or new understanding boyfriend. Oddly, the most interesting character (Aiken) gets the least coverage and is the only one of the quartet who does not overcome his trauma.

GRADE  =  C+