Fraternal Paternal

Not sure how many have watched the trailer from the UK. But comparing that clip vs. the trailers that are shown in the US you can see the differences in selling the story of Brothers. One of the biggest difference is that in the UK trailer you see scenes of Sam in the war, scenes of conflict. While it is known in the story, in US that is being downplayed. Why?

Well, movies about war have been a hard sell in the US, and as Jim Sheridan says, "I think the American people just don't think there is a war on, so why should they have to go to a movie about something that doesn't exist? Their state of denial is hard to overcome,"

But Sheridan doesn't see Brothers as a war movie, but really "as a family drama about a man coming home after a long absence, and he just happens to have served in Afghanistan."


Sheridan point of view as a director is about families and relationships. He takes a bigger story, like Christy Brown in My Left Foot and focuses on the relationship between Christy and his mother's to tell it. Or telling the story of immigrating to the US, like in In America, through the relationship of a father and his daughters. The same is true for Brothers. Sheridan emphasized the family's struggle to be whole again. "It is a big thing to me to show the family at war. They are split by an event outside themselves. The war is in the family, you know."


A lot of focus in US campaign has been on Grace (Natalie) and Sam and Tommy. But the story that really emerges is more about fathers than brothers. Hank's (Sam Shepard)relationships with each of his sons. Sam's fatherly relationship with Tommy. His relationship with his girls and how that changes from forces out of everyone's control. Tommy find paternal feelings he never thought he had and stepping in as a father and how that changes his life.



Those relationships create so many themes, of expectations,disappointments, rebellion, anger, resentment, abandonment, love, acceptance, and redemption. It is a story as old as man in a setting while modern is itself timeless.



One critic talked about Jake effortless playing a father. Looking at the place in Jake's life you can see how it dovetailed from real to reel. No doubt Sheridan encouraged Jake to bring all of that into his role, relishing as Jake discovered fatherhood on all levels.


Something you might not know about Brothers. Brothers is a pretty little movie that has a powerful punch. The movie had a budget of only $25 million, with the actors talking "a quarter or maybe even a 10th of what they usually get paid," according to Sheridan.