Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2009 American psychological drama
war film called, Brothers. Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
The movie starts with the soldiers working out; it’s only four days before they deploy.
The soldier writes a letter to his wife, Grace, and sends it to his fellow,
hoping that he won’t deliver it for it’ll mean that their deployment didn’t turn out well.
He goes to his house and greets his little family then quickly goes out again because
of his brother. He fetches his brother from jail then he brings his sibling
to a pawn shop because of his errands. That night, their whole family will have
a gathering; luckily, Tommy makes it there. They start their dinner with a prayer and eat
very quietly. Suddenly, the tension rises because of the comparison their dad makes
between the elder soldier and the younger who just got off jail, which his father
keeps on degrading him for. Tommy gets out of the house with guidance from his brother.
The day has come, they are now back in Afghanistan together with his men. The soldiers are three
minutes away from their landing zone when suddenly, their helicopter is being shot down
and some of his men fall to the sea. On the other hand, in their home,
two soldiers come to their house, which means only one thing, that Tom didn’t make it.
Grace comes to shock as she hears the sad news so she just watches videos of her husband together
with their kids. All of a sudden, his car pulls over at the front of their house,
it’s Tommy. He explains that his brother lets him borrow the car anytime he wants; Grace tells him
that Sam is dead. Tommy doesn’t want to believe it so he fumes in anger and throws the keys.
Tommy goes back to his parents’ house and sits on the balcony, still in shock by the news.
He comes in and his dad offers him a drink but he declines.
It is now the funeral of Sam; the kids still cannot fathom the death of their father.
They are all crying for grievance while singing. After the ceremony, some soldiers give commends
to Sam’s family about his greatness. They are now going to their home but the tension between
Tommy and his father is rising again. They argue about who’s going to drive and have the keys but
the dad ends up comparing the two siblings again. Back in Afghanistan, Sam is still alive together
with his fellow soldier. They are walking in the middle of the desert with the people there.
Suddenly, the two soldiers get pushed by them into a pit hole; they close it with nails and wood.
On the other side, Tommy calls Grace all of a sudden. He, again, gets into trouble because
he drank a lot in a bar and those are expensive drinks so he owes 47-dollars. Grace goes to the
bar and pays Tommy’s debt. The next morning, the kids decide to make pancakes to surprise their mom
because she’s still amid grievance. Her in-laws visited the house as well and Tommy and his dad
gives apologies to each other. They talk about him and his brother’s childhood and his dad comfort
him by saying he, too, has talents. His dad gets emotional as they reminisce about Sam and cry.
Going back to Afghanistan, the two soldiers try to get out by banging the wood that serves as a
lock in the pit hole but a gun suddenly pointed downwards at them so they stop.
On the other hand, Grace arrives home with a car parked and as she walks,
Tommy is there together with a few other men. They are fixing and making the kitchen up.
In the other country, Sam is panicking and keeps telling his private soldier to not tell anything.
They get released from the pit hole and get thrown by these men.
Sam keeps on shouting for his private not to say a word; however, the private is scared that they
will get their head chopped off. They land in a desert and get recorded by various men.
They witness the death of a random man asking forgiveness from their leader.
The people tell them that it is not their country so they should not be there. They are forcing them
to say something but they don’t want to tell them anything. The men put Sam into a cave.
Back in America, Grace’s mother-in-law checks up on her while she’s grieving.
She decides to check on the kitchen and sees her daughter painting the wall together with Tommy.
The uncle and niece are having a nice bond talking about Sam. Tommy gets conscious if the kid needs
to do her homework but Grace shrugs it off because she’s having fun. While painting, the kid spills
the paint on the other guy’s pants. The man gets a little bit mad because it is brand-new pants.
Maggie, the kid genuinely apologizes to the man and Grace goes inside as she has something for
him. His fellow workers tell him to chill out and comfort him; he says he will hug it out.
They are having a nice time. Grace, on the other hand, goes to their bedroom
to find some pants that will fit the worker. While searching for a nice piece of pants, she starts to
be emotional and a little bit mad. She recklessly removes the clothes from the hanger as well as
the closet itself. The man removes his shirt and pants while having a great time with the workers
drinking beers. Grace gives all the clothes from the closet to the man with spilled paint. He gets
confused as he only needs a shirt and pants; Tommy convinces him to take it all as he sees the look
on Grace’s face, full of melancholy and grievance. Going back to Afghanistan, Sam’s private soldier
marine are now getting punished by the men out there. He reminds him to stay strong;
however, the men grab burning coal that is about to touch his topless body. Sam keeps on shouting
but leaves him being speechless as he sees his private being punished helplessly by these men.
After a few hours, a man goes to Sam’s jailed corner and gives him a look on a camcorder. It’s
his private, Joe, under the marine corps. He is saying that the country belongs to
its people with an ending message of saying “I love you” to her wife and son. After watching,
Sam has been threatened by the man by saying that he has two daughters.
Meanwhile, in America, Tommy and his nieces are planning something. Grace arrives in the house
with various messages on the wall such as “do not enter,” “stop,” and other things. After a few
twists and turns, a group of people come out from their hiding area and greet her “Happy Birthday!”
This includes her in-laws, friends, and her kids; they also surprise her with a
repaired and comfortable kitchen. She opens some presents while her in-laws, including Tommy,
are preparing to light up a cake. She gets emotional as they sing her happy birthday.
Grace, her kids, and Tommy are going into an ice-skating rink. Maggie, the youngest runs,
and her mother goes after her. Meanwhile, Isabelle says to herself that Maggie is loved by everybody;
so, Tommy immediately gives her comfort as she doesn’t want her to feel what he felt
as being always compared to his brother. They are now having an immensely great
time skating off the ice rink. After that, Tommy goes to the
bank where he got arrested for almost shooting a woman due to his robbery.
He goes to Grace’s house and tells her how she says sorry to the woman.
She even got traumatized thinking that he’ll come over anytime. The woman thanked
him because she can finally breathe again; she offered him to open a bank account and he did.
Grace says she’s proud of Tommy. A song comes out and they both like it that takes
them out by surprise. They start to bond and whiff one cigarette together. They
tease each other about how Grace is such a cliché while Tommy is a drunk fighter.
They begin to kiss each other passionately. Grace cuts off the kiss and walks out for her to get
some air. Tommy then cries and gets emotional and leaves the house; while Grace cannot sleep.
Going back to Afghanistan, the private keeps on being punished by applying a burnt and hot metal.
A boy gives Sam a big metal pipe and the men orders him to take it.
The men state that the private has no value and is only a waste so they ask Sam to kill him.
They put a gun at their forehead. It’s either for Sam to kill his private or the men will
kill Sam for not doing what they said. The men keep on shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”
to Sam, causing him to be crazy and kill his private himself. He shouts very loud
to release the stress and anger as he whips his private with a big metal pipe.
Meanwhile, in America, Tommy goes to Grace’s house and fixes the kitchen.
He also tells grace that he doesn’t want to ruin anything as he just wants to see the girls.
Back in Afghanistan, helicopters are now circulating through the desert
as fellow soldiers are in search of the dead deployed soldiers’ bodies.
So, the men keep on shooting Sam down the cave which causes him to be more frightened
aside from the happenings earlier. The soldiers find him and ask him if he has someone with him
but still, he didn’t speak because of the traumatic things that happened in the desert.
In America, the kids are playing snow together with Tommy. Grace sparks a smile as she sees
her daughters being happy despite Sam being “dead.” Isabelle even pulls a prank pretending
not to move, causing panic in Tommy and Grace. A phone rang while Grace is cutting carrots.
While in line, she cannot hide her emotional face; Tommy goes to her as he becomes worried.
She smiles and cries at the same time. An aircraft landed and it spits Sam,
that was “dead” as what they have been believing. Sam hugs her daughters as well as her wife Grace.
He also embraces his beloved brother and parents. Sam goes home and sees the beautifully renovated
kitchen. He asks who did it and the kids answer that it was them, Uncle Tommy, and the three
amigos or workers. Sam stared at nowhere and then gets into the bad; he invites all the girls over.
After a few hours, Sam is now shaving his beard when suddenly,
his wife enters the room. He gets shocked and tells her that he locked the door.
Grace says that it’s broken. She sees scars on his back and kisses them. However, Sam didn’t
like it so he says he’ll go to finish shaving with a tone then Grace goes out of the bathroom.
The next day, his dad sees him acting strange so he asks him if he’s okay.
Sam says yes but he tells him that he’s there if he needs someone to talk to.
The family is now enjoying ice skating when Tommy notices his brother sitting and staring
at nothingness. He sits with him and Sam thanks him for taking care of his family while he’s gone.
Suddenly, he asks Tommy if did he and Grace had sexual intercourse. Tommy gets concerned
about his brother thinking “weird” things. The next day, the wife of his private together
with their son go to their house. The wife just keeps on talking with Grace because she had a
nightmare wherein, she hated Sam for being alive. The son crawls to Sam and the wife picks him up;
she asks him if he saw his private die or if he was alone.
Sam is left staring at the unknown, again. During the night, Sam decides to organize
the kitchen a little bit loud while having a gun in his right hand.
Grace keeps herself awake while being scared. The next day, he goes to the camp and tells
his leader that he wants to go back and see his men but the leader says it’ll take time.
At dinner, Sam is very serious while his daughters together with his wife are laughing at a joke.
He doesn’t laugh nor smile and he walks out which makes the kids scared. Grace checks
Sam and asks what’s wrong but he only replies if there’s something happened between her and Tommy.
She says that they only kissed and she missed him. Sam says he thinks that they are having sexual
activities and walks out of the house. He goes to the cemetery and visits Joseph, his private
marine soldier whom he killed in Afghanistan. Sam arrives at his house and sees his daughters
playing; the kids start to move back as they see their father. He approaches them gently
and gives the girls a nice hug. He tells them a joke that was already repeated by him numerous
times and they laugh. However, Isabelle still sheds a tear and becomes emotional about her
father’s existence. Grace asks Tom where has he been and he replies that he was outside,
just thinking, and realizes that he’s lucky to be alive. The married couple hugs each other tightly.
It is now Maggie’s birthday and they are in the dining area. She keeps insisting to unbox
the gifts and opening Tommy’s. Isabelle waits for their Uncle Tommy and she opens the door for him.
She sees Tommy has a girl with and she begins to be mad. They are having a quiet dinner while
Maggie talks. Isabelle keeps on playing with the cake and Sam tells her to stop with a tone.
Tina, the girl Tommy brought, keeps on having a conversation with the kids’ grandparents.
Meanwhile, Isabelle keeps on taking Maggie’s gifts which makes Sam a little bit mad.
She shouts that Sam is in the “stupid Afghanistan” on her birthday and sobs. She now makes noise
with the balloon which infuriates Sam even more. He shouts and Isabelle replies that
he wishes him to stay dead and tells him that Grace and Tommy sleep together all the time.
Isabelle apologizes to her mom and says she said it because she would
rather have Uncle Tommy around than her dad. It’s nighttime and Grace is scared of her
husband while Tommy gets outside. Elsie tells her husband to call the police about their son Sam.
He walks with metal while his wife is scared. He goes into the kitchen and shouts every pain he
feels along with destructing the kitchen. Tommy enters the house which leaves him in shock. He
hugs his brother but Sam gets his gun in his pocket and points it at Tommy. Grace feels so
scared and locks the door of the kids’ room. The ambulances suddenly come then Sam still
crazily shouts. He points the gun at him while they panic. Tommy says he’s his
brother and family which calms Sam a little bit. Sam says he’s drowning and throws his
gun. The police take him and Tommy walks home. Grace opens Sam’s letter and sobs.
Sam is now in a rehabilitation center and calls Tommy. He is trying to be better.
Grace visits her husband at the center; there, he tells Grace what happened in Afghanistan.
The movie ends with Sam saying he has seen the end of war and questions himself if he can live again.