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+

Home of the Brave (1949)

 

   

           “Home of the Brave” is a movie that was based on a Broadway play written by Arthur Laurents. He was inspired by a photo of American soldiers in the Pacific in WWII. He wrote the play in nine nights. It was directed by Mark Robson (“The Bridges at Toko-Ri”). Carl Foreman wrote the screenplay. He later went on to write the screenplays for “Bridge on the River Kwai” and “The Guns of Navarone”. It turned out to be a good decision. Stanley Kramer produced. He was noted for his message movies like “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”  Kramer insisted he change the main character of the play from Jewish to black because “Jews have been done.” He intended for the picture to “blow the lid off the race issue.” I personally think he mad the right decision because I feel it made less sense for Moss to be considered incapable of doing his job because he was Jewish. Tackling the segregation of the military and the view of blacks in the military was more impactful.

            An amphibious landing on an island calls for a suicide mission to survey the landing area. One of the volunteers is Moss (James Edwards) from an engineering unit. (This was a bit of a stretch because the Army was segregated and it was unlikely a black engineering unit would have been nearby and there were no white engineers available.) Hey, he has the skills and he wants to go. The problem is he’s black. The lieutenant is happy to have him along. Finch (Lloyd Bridges) is thrilled because he and Moss were friends in high school and played on the same basketball team (which allows for a hilarious flashback to a high school game). Finch represents the northern whites who were clueless about what blacks faced even in the North. He ends up inviting him to his graduation party and is surprised that Moss does not attend. Mingo (Frank Lovejoy in his debut) doesn’t care. But T.J. (Steve Brodie) is the type of Southerner who is openly racist and does not even notice. He does not think a black man can do a white man’s job and he continues to make racist comments when they are in the jungle. The movie is shown using flashbacks. Moss is currently under the care of a doctor (Jeff Corey) who is trying to treat him for his blindness and paralysis. These symptoms are caused by mental stress from the mission, but also from a lack of self-worth. Something happened on the mission that caused the first, the second was caused by society.

            “Home of the Brave” is a movie that is not well-known. It did critical acclaim upon its release and it did well at the box office, although not in the South, for obvious reasons. It managed to combine war, psychology, and treatment of African-Americans. It works because the cast is good and the plot is not preachy. One theme is that everyone should be judged on their ability. Moss is good at what he does, so there should not be any problems including him on the mission, especially because he volunteered. The movie is very dialogue driven and is stage bound due to its origin as a play. It was filmed mostly on a sound stage. (Herbert Tweedy (yes, that’s his last name) imitated twelve different birds for the jungle scene.) However, there was not need for any combat scenes. It’s not that kind of war movie.

            The movie was released in the 1940s when black roles in war movies were still rare. This makes the plot even more shocking and ahead of its time. The n-word is used 8 times! This was the first significant use of it since the Production Code had banned it. Audiences must have been shocked and it is still shocking today. It also was an early depiction of PTSD in a WWII film. You feel like you are watching a revolutionary movie.      

GRADE  =  B

Lonesome Soldier (2023)

 

            “Lonesome Soldier” is an independence film directed by Nino Aldi. It is the true story of Jackson Harlow. He volunteered for the Tennessee National Guard after high school because his life was going nowhere. He told his new wife that he would not volunteer to go overseas, but then the Army changed its policy and he is deployed to Iraq. To make matters worse for his marriage, his unit’s tour gets extended. While in Iraq, he witnesses his best friend getting killed trying to protect him when he tries to rescue a girl in a fire- fight.  When he returns to Tennessee, his wife has left him. His parents expect him to be the old Jackson and underestimate his mental scars from his military experience. How clueless are they? The day he returns home, his family celebrates with a fireworks display!  He has PTSD and has nightmares about the incident. The movie covers the incident in flashbacks similar to the wounding of Snowden in “Catch-22”.  He gets hooked on drugs. He ends up overdosing and goes into a coma. Although the doctors tell his mother that has only 1% chance of surviving, she does not give up.

            “Lonesome Soldier” is in the PTSD subgenre. Movies showing the mental effects of war became popular in the 21^st Century, partly because American serviceman and servicewomen were coming back from unpopular wars like the War in Iraq. Movies have done a good job showing the clueless public the reasons for and effects of PTSD. Harlow’s experiences break no new ground, but since it’s a true story, it separates itself from the majority of PTSD movies. And like most PTSD movies, it shares some cliches. Harlow is tortured by an incident involving the death of a civilian and/or a best buddie. When he returns, his friends and relatives do not understand that he is changed. His friends mock him partly because they think he was a chump to go fight in an unpopular war. He uses drugs to escape his trauma. There is a shortage of empathy. His world falls apart and he sinks to a low level before he gets his footing. One aspect that is not cliché is the movie does not criticize the Veteran’s Bureau. It is one of the counselors who helps him overcome his PTSD

            Since it is an indie, the movie had a low budget. This is clear as the flashbacks to the fire-fight are small scale. They just found an Iraq-looking street and staged it there. The cast is also low budget. The only face you will recognize is John Ashton (“Beverly Hills Cop”). The acting is better than what you would expect from a low-rent cast. Alexander Randazzo has a meaty role playing Harlow. His depiction of a drug addict with PTSD is realistic. His pathos does not slide into pity. The plot is predictable, especially if you have seen other PTSD movies like “Born on the Fourth of July”. The movie manages to stand with the minorityof PTSD movies because it also depicts the effects the trauma has on friends and family. Harlow is like the rock thrown into a pound. There are ripple effects.

            “Lonesome Soldier” is a decent addition to the 21^st Century PTSD movies. It is not as good as the best films in the subgenre, like “Waltz with Bashir” and “Birdy”. Don’t make it your first movie that highlights PTSD, but you should watch it if you want a movie that focuses on it, not just as an excuse for a character’s behavior.

GRADE =  B-