Home of the Brave

2006 "The final test of courage is coming home."
5.6| 1h46m| R| en| More Info
Released: 15 December 2006 Released
Producted By: Winkler Films
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

The day after they get the word they'll go home in two weeks, a group of soldiers from Spokane are ambushed in an Iraqi city. Back stateside we follow four of them - a surgeon who saw too much, a teacher who's a single mom and who lost a hand in the ambush, an infantry man whose best friend died that day, and a soldier who keeps reliving the moment he killed a civilian woman.

Genre

Drama, War

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Director

Irwin Winkler

Production Companies

Winkler Films

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Home of the Brave Audience Reviews

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
VividSimon Simply Perfect
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Sherparsa This movie's nothing like Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now and that kind of anti-war movies ... but it's certainly not pro-war either ...in fact, it's not exactly anti-war in the traditional sense ... but it leaves it well to the viewer to decide for himself if war is bad or good or ...the tv-movie style in which this movie's been made, makes it look and sound 'simple' at first ... and i believe that's what makes it a good show in that it's not trying to be a masterpiece, the way Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now are ...don't get me wrong though: i love both of those two movies, epics! but this one not being an epic (on purpose perhaps?) doesn't mean it's not just as great ... maybe it could be a 'shocking' anti-war movie the way the other two are and then attract more viewers and sell high at the box office, maybe ... but i'm glad it's been made like a plain tv movie ... now it has even more impact i'd say ...
SnoopyStyle After getting notice that they're soon going home, an American unit gets ambushed in Iraq. Will Marsh (Samuel L. Jackson) leads the drivers. Single mom Vanessa Price (Jessica Biel) survives a blast but loses her hand. Tommy Yates (Brian Presley) holds his dying best friend Owens in his arms. Jamal Aiken (50 Cent) gets hurts tripping over some bricks. They return to Spokane. Surgeon Marsh is dealing PTSD and his anti-war son Billy. Yates loses his job. Price deals with her hand and angry Aiken is haunted by killing a civilian.The opening action scenes contain both the good and the bad of this movie. It does some compelling action. It's got good intensity. Then this ends in one of the most old-fashion melodramatic overwrought-music cry-holding-dying-buddy scene possible. That is the pull-push of this movie. It is sincere in its portrayal of the home front but it is also very on-the-nose. It's got good intentions. Everybody is acting well. It does need to pull back the melodrama.
estebangonzalez10 "Will, what happened over there?"This was the last film directed by Academy Award winning producer Irwin Winkler who recently has gone back to doing what he does best: producing movies. Home of the Brave is an overly melodramatic war film that fails to connect with the audience despite its good intentions. The acting in this film is pretty bad, the script is absolutely terrible, and the direction felt too generic. The script, written by Mark Friedman, was very unsubtle, hammering us over the head with the PTSD suffered by the soldiers who returned home from Iraq. Several war films have dealt with these issues far better and in a more subtle manner than Home of the Brave does. Winkler has good intentions with this film, he doesn't try to send a political anti-war message or anything like that but rather focuses on the pain the soldiers have to face when they return home and how difficult adapting can become for them. Those noble intentions, didn't translate well into a film that was full of war clichés and terrible dialogues. It became too melodramatic and the characters were never developed realistically. It just rang false and it should've dealt with such a serious issue in a more complex manner. I couldn't connect with any of the characters in this film and was disappointed with Winkler's direction.The story follows a group of soldiers in the Iraq War who are pleased to receive the news that their tour of duty is coming to an end in two weeks. As they make plans of what they will do when they return home, they are sent on a humanitarian mission to deliver some medical supplies at a nearby village. One of the convoys is driven by Vanessa Price (Jessica Biel), while another one is guarded by Tommy Yates (Brian Presley), his hometown best friend Jordan (Chad Michael Murray), and Jamal (50 Cent). A surgeon named Will Marsh (Samuel Jackson) also accompanies them on the mission. Upon arriving at the village the unit is ambushed and several lives are lost, while others suffer psychological traumas and physical injuries. The lives of these soldiers are changed forever and once they arrive home to their families they must learn how to adjust to their "normal" lives. We see how each one of these characters have difficulty doing so as they continue to be emotionally torn by the war, while some of them continue to cross each other's path back home in Washington.Home of the Brave felt tremendously out dated despite it only being made 7 years ago. It probably has to do with the fact that this film was a bit lazy in the way they tried to tackle the subject matter. It is something we've seen in many other war movies recently that have had a much more subtle approach. This film just felt too repetitive and predictable. The performance from the cast also hurt this film tremendously and not even Samuel L Jackson could do enough to save this. There is a short cameo by Christina Ricci that really felt out of place, like many other moments in this film. The different stories didn't connect very well either and the characters were just presented in a very lazy manner. Home of the Brave has all the war clichés you can think of and doesn't present anything groundbreaking or original.
PersianPlaya408 Director Irwin Winkler's look at post-war life for several Iraq war veterans, is neither totally convincing nor entertaining. Despite having some powerful scenes, which raised some good points from a psychological and political perspective, the film failed to paint a realistic picture, which allowed the audience to truly position itself in the shoes of the characters. As I watched the film I did not entirely believe Samuel L. Jackson or Jessica Biel's character, and both were unconvincing, especially Samuel L. Jackson who had some very good moments, but due to a lacking script, went over-the-top at times. (Brian Presley) was not bad, but having 50 cent in this film was a casting catastrophe. They should have made better choices in the casting, but then again, there was a lot of other flaws in making this film, which I admit, is a tough type of film to make, but this just felt rushed and not enough precision an effort put into producing, writing and creating an original and realistic film about post-ware life.I thought the cinematography, editing and music did very little to help matters a just didn't engage me throughout the film. The opening sequence which takes place in Iraq is almost a joke, as at times It felt like it was in East LA, now I don't know where they filmed it, but that's not a good way to start off a film. Overall this film had potential but was a misfire in my book, and had it not been for a few good scenes, moral arguments and okay acting (at times), it would get an even lower score from me. 5/10