Of all the remakes being spawned by Hollywood, Brothers is perhaps the least infuriating on paper: after all, the original Danish film tackled a very American subject, namely war, and told a story that works in pretty much any language. In addition, the US version benefits from a good director (Jim Sheridan, recovering from Get Rich or Die Trying'), a reliable screenwriter (David Benioff) and a solid cast. Not enough to improve on the prototype, but still a solid effort.
The script is basically the original translated in English: Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), loving husband and father, is going to Afghanistan on a mission. When he's reported dead (his team disappeared and no bodies were found), his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and his two daughters receive support from an unlikely source: Sam's younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), freshly out of jail and looking for a way to prove himself worthy of the family's trust. Soon, emotions get complicated between him and Grace, a problem that gets even more serious once Sam is revealed to be alive and comes back home.
Benioff's take on Susanne Bier's tale of brotherly love follows the blueprint quite closely, but adds another layer of subtext that makes the picture more American: given the rigorous, almost religious connotations the army, and especially the Marines, can have in the US (see Full Metal Jacket and A Few Good Men), not to mention the tradition of sons taking after their fathers, a different back-story explaining the troubled relationship between the Cahill boys and their veteran father (Sam Shepard) is a welcome modification. Less successful, on the other hand, is Sheridan's decision to give the film a more "cinematic" look, ditching the hand-held style that made the Danish counterpart more realistically affecting. Granted, it would have looked like a shot-for-shot remake, but the subject's poignancy suffers as a result.
Another problem, perhaps even more serious, is the age of the three stars: being between ten and fifteen years younger than their Danish equivalents, Maguire, Portman and Gyllenhaal deliver solid, compelling performances (Maguire in particular is miles away from Spider-Man's blockbuster territory), but almost always look too young to convince as a family torn apart by war (and frankly, it's hard to buy Sam and Grace as parents of two seven-year old girls). Amusingly, this is referenced in the screenplay, when Sam, sensing that things have changed, describes his wife and brother as "two teenagers in love" (in fairness, though, that line, like much of the dialogue, is taken verbatim from the original).
In short, Brothers is a worthy showcase of its cast's acting talents (alongside the leads, Carey Mulligan does wonders with what is basically a throwaway cameo) and a reasonably strong reflection on the consequences of war, but it pales next to the superior European version.
The script is basically the original translated in English: Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), loving husband and father, is going to Afghanistan on a mission. When he's reported dead (his team disappeared and no bodies were found), his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and his two daughters receive support from an unlikely source: Sam's younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), freshly out of jail and looking for a way to prove himself worthy of the family's trust. Soon, emotions get complicated between him and Grace, a problem that gets even more serious once Sam is revealed to be alive and comes back home.
Benioff's take on Susanne Bier's tale of brotherly love follows the blueprint quite closely, but adds another layer of subtext that makes the picture more American: given the rigorous, almost religious connotations the army, and especially the Marines, can have in the US (see Full Metal Jacket and A Few Good Men), not to mention the tradition of sons taking after their fathers, a different back-story explaining the troubled relationship between the Cahill boys and their veteran father (Sam Shepard) is a welcome modification. Less successful, on the other hand, is Sheridan's decision to give the film a more "cinematic" look, ditching the hand-held style that made the Danish counterpart more realistically affecting. Granted, it would have looked like a shot-for-shot remake, but the subject's poignancy suffers as a result.
Another problem, perhaps even more serious, is the age of the three stars: being between ten and fifteen years younger than their Danish equivalents, Maguire, Portman and Gyllenhaal deliver solid, compelling performances (Maguire in particular is miles away from Spider-Man's blockbuster territory), but almost always look too young to convince as a family torn apart by war (and frankly, it's hard to buy Sam and Grace as parents of two seven-year old girls). Amusingly, this is referenced in the screenplay, when Sam, sensing that things have changed, describes his wife and brother as "two teenagers in love" (in fairness, though, that line, like much of the dialogue, is taken verbatim from the original).
In short, Brothers is a worthy showcase of its cast's acting talents (alongside the leads, Carey Mulligan does wonders with what is basically a throwaway cameo) and a reasonably strong reflection on the consequences of war, but it pales next to the superior European version.