Although it is called brothers, the whole film is not actually about the entanglement between brothers, but about the impact on the whole family due to the war. To be honest, I think it is a bit far-fetched to call them brothers, especially near the end of Sam's use of a gun Pointing to himself, Tommy kept saying, "I'm your brother, I'm your family, which makes it seem like I'm doing it on purpose.
The story is quite satisfactory, with a little cover, and the tragedy of one person reflects the scars of the entire country. Basically there are two lines, one at home and one on the battlefield.
The backgrounds of family members are revealed through character dialogues. Sam and Tommy's father is a veteran from the Vietnam War. Tommy robbed a bank before getting out of prison. Sam was a football team player in middle school, Grace was a cheerleader, and Tommy was fighting and drinking all day.
What I think is more interesting is that through their dialogue, I feel that the three protagonists have known each other since middle school. Like Sam said, it is like a campus love triangle between two men and one woman, which brings a little bit about youth to this gloomy atmosphere. 's echo.
The three protagonists, it should be said that all the actors, have good acting skills, which makes people feel very immersed in it. The story takes place in winter. Snow, thick winter clothes, cold air, dark sky, the tone of the whole film is restrained, like a long river flowing quietly.
The dining table is an inevitable scene in family films, and there are many depictions of meals in the film. Every time it reflects the relationship between the characters. The most impressive time was when it was only Sam and his wife and daughter, he kept asking his daughter what was so funny about that joke, and his eyes had already scared the little girls. Another time was Maggie's birthday. To be honest, the little girl Izzy's acting skills were really good. She raised her head with tears in her eyes. She was aggrieved and full of revenge to steal her sister's toy, made with balloons. Noise, she kept looking at Uncle Tommy, and finally cried out to Sam the lies she used to both hurt and defend.
After Sam came back, everyone could see the difference in him. At this time, there are actually two perspectives in the film, one is the perspective of adults and the other is the perspective of children.
Audiences generally see it from an adult perspective, and we, like Tommy and Grace and all adults, try our best to understand Sam, to take care of him, to make him feel warm, to know what's going on in him (of course the audience already knows).
However, from the child's point of view, when he felt his father's strangeness, he just felt scared. Maggie was still in the stage of ignorance. He just felt that he liked Uncle Tommy more and didn't want his father to be here. And Izzy has more resentment for feeling unloved, Sam didn't accompany her on her birthday, and Uncle Tommy told her she was likable, so she wanted Uncle Tommy more in this house.
Speaking of Sam's own sins, he killed Joe to prove the selfishness of human nature. He couldn't extricate himself from the torture since then, because of the so-called conscience, morality, and guilt imposed on him.
In fact, I think that human nature is also the animal nature, the strong prey on the weak, the shackles of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, morality, benevolence and righteousness are sometimes just burdens. I mean, it wouldn't have been so painful if Sam could have looked at this on this issue.
Or maybe it's actually weakness that's causing it all. Can't just ask for death, the weakness of abandoning all obsessions, the weakness that can't come out of the shadows after being forced to kill, watching Tommy get along well with the children, and the weakness that he doesn't dare to find out about whether his brother and wife are sleeping ( I just said that I was sleeping).
In addition, I also thought about what the American soldiers thought about the war against Afghanistan, "The above told me that we were fighting for our own country, but I came here and found that I was wrong, the land of Afghanistan should belong to Her people." The Afghans forced Joe to say these words, of course, from the perspective of national justice and world peace, we should all feel that this sentence is right, and we should condemn the United States for waging this war.
I wonder if Sam and Joe also have doubts about what they're allegiance to?
But I soon felt that this was not the case. I didn’t care about the director’s values and what he wanted to convey. From a soldier’s point of view, obeying orders was everything. Whether it was a war of defense or a war of aggression, they were all for themselves. fight for the motherland. It should be said that many times we are easily confused by some things we take for granted. But the world is not that simple.
From the film, it can be seen that the family are Christians or Catholics, but Sam did not pray or ask God for help during the whole process. Does this mean that religious redemption is powerless in the face of cruel wars and human torture?
Carey Mulligan's two appearances in the film surprised me. Of course I've always loved Natalie. Natalie's dark eyes, dark hair, and precise acting make the character's pain, depression, tolerance and soft play very well.
It's just a pity that it lacks a little beauty and splendor. But there is no way.
But, at the end, she sat across from Sam and said, you know what, I've loved you since I was 16, and if you don't tell me what the hell happened, you'll never see me again.
At that time, she said that the brilliance and smile in her eyes when she was 16 years old, she said that you will never see my anger and tears again, which made me feel that the cheerleader on the campus, the beautiful and splendid she, appeared. Here, in a flash, it lingers.
She embraced his sin. She forgave his pain.
In fact, when I watched it, I kept thinking, the person I love, the person I want to protect forever, no matter what he does, I will hug him, support him, and tell him I don't care.
It's an emotion.
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