Two films about Iraq war fall short
Video Viper for Nov. 28, 2008
MGM
It’s just a coincidence that two films I looked at the other day both had to do with the war in Iraq.
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“Home of the Brave” and “Grace is Gone” look at different aspects of the toll this war has taken on America.
“Grace is Gone” stars John Cusack as Stanley Phillips, a strong proponent of the military who got ousted from the service because of bad eye sight. He memorized the eye chart to get in.
During his time in the service he met the woman he would later marry and have two daughters with.
Wife ended up with the career in the military. He ended up as a manager in a Home Depot type of store.
When Stanley gets an early-morning visit by military personnel, he knows his wife was killed in Iraq.
Distraught, he puts on a brave face. When his daughters, played by Shelan O’Keefe and Gracie Bednarczyk, awake, the usually overly strict father decides to take them to an amusement park in Florida, rather than tell them the bad news.
You feel sorry for the Cusack character to a point, but you are also disgusted with him. He does everything wrong.
Along the way he stops at his parents’ home, although we never see the parents. We are introduced to the dysfunctional brother instead who does little to advance the plot.
When eldest daughter (O’Keefe) meets an older boy at a motel the family is staying at, the boy offers her a cigarette. She smokes it. When dad finds out, he buys a pack so they can smoke together.
Like I said, Cusack’s character makes all the wrong decisions. When he and daughters should be coping with the death, he’s driving his car through corn fields.
The scene where he tells the girls the truth is beautifully shot. Unfortunately, the basic premise of the AWOL father is so flawed, it’s difficult to relate to the characters in the movie.
The second film, “Home of the Brave,” was directed by Irwin Winkler and starts in Iraq and continues in and around Seattle, as the characters cope with returning to the United States.
Samuel L. Jackson is a doctor, Jessica Biel is a physical education teacher and Brian Presley is an employee of a gun store.
All three are scarred either physically or emotionally or both from an ambush and roadside bombing.
None can relate to anyone except fellow veterans. They learn what their friends and family find important is trivial to them. Jackson returns to his family but copes by drinking. He can’t communicate with his wife and angry son. Biel loses a hand in Iraq and tries to carry on, isolating herself from others. Presley’s employer doesn’t save his job for him and he ends up as a ticket taker at a big movie complex, although not for long. His dad wants him to buck up and be a man. This can almost be considered a remake of “Best Years of Our Lives,” the epic film released right after World War II, dealing with soldiers adjusting to life back home. The movie is handled sensitively, but seems to wrap up too nicely. Each of the main characters seems to find himself or herself. Rapper 50-Cent plays another angry veteran who doesn’t fend so well. Like so many movies, there must be a tragedy so the others find redemption. GRACE IS GONE • Directed and written by James C. Strouse • Rated PG-13 for thematic material, brief strong language and teen smoking • Runtime: 85 minutes • 2 stars out of 4 HOME OF THE BRAVE Video Viper for Nov. 28, 2008 • Directed by Irwin Winkler • Written by Mark Friedman • Rated R for violence and language • Runtime: 106 minutes • 2 stars out of 4
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