Writer-director Claudia Myers amplifies this moment into the film "Fort Bliss": the complex domestic life of an Army medic during two deployments to Afghanistan.
Michelle Monaghan's impressive performance perfectly portrays Maggie Swann, a strong, cool, and capable Army Sergeant, especially as she removes a rocket that could explode at any moment from the belly of a wounded soldier. But when she returned to Blissburg, a military base in El Paso, where her fellow soldiers were greeted like heroes by family and friends, she had nothing. Ron Livingston's ex-husband greets her with a strange greeting before she reunites with her 5-year-old son Paul, who then treats Maggie as a stranger rather than his own mother.
The talented Oakes Fegley plays Paul, who gets pissed off when Maggie pulls him away to live with her. Although Maggie, besieged by Paul, is a sympathetic mother, she is far from perfect: she is clumsy in her relationship with her son, and uses intimidating orders to try to get him to behave.
Director Myers, a filmmaker who has worked extensively with the military on documentaries and videos, has clearly done her job, every detail of Brisbane: returning home in a state of drowsiness, not being able to at night Falling asleep in an ordinary bed shows the enormous difficulty of returning home to normal life.
The film isn't a war movie at its core, but a deeply compassionate and in-depth portrayal of a single mother's struggles between work and family. Flashbacks of wartime missions, romance with mechanic Manolo Cardona, and the uncertainty of a possible future redeployment bring out the most heartwarming thread: Paul and Maggie's growing trust.
This is not nation building, but the stakes are still high. In the hands of director Myers and Monaghan's vainly powerful performance, "Brisburgh" can go head-to-head with "Coming Home" and "The Best Years of Our Lives." This is not just a portrayal of military characters, but also conveys such a confusing and complicated message that awaits them in the world of ordinary people.
Written By Ann Hornaday
Translated By Norman Schwarz
View more about Fort Bliss reviews
