Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (summit) Release Date: 01/12/2010 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: RThe remarkable documentary Brothers at War begins with a simple premise: Jake Rademacher wants to understand the experience of his younger brothers Isaac and Joe, both serving in the American military in Iraq. What unfolds proves amazingly complex, fusing a troubled family history (another Rademacher brother died at home), wrenching interviews with wives and girlfriends left behind, and a startlingly unfiltered portrait of on-the-ground soldiers in the middle of a combat zone. Because the filmmaker is already part of these people’s lives, he’s able to capture a kind of emotional nakedness you don’t often see; when Joe’s girlfriend talks about how Joe’s military service has changed him, a window opens into her life that’s almost uncomfortably intimate. Because of his relationship to one of their comrades, the soldiers in Iraq accept Jake in a completely different way than they’d respond to a typical journalist. They don’t present a manicured image; Jake films them talking about why they’re there, how they treat girls, shooting people (one soldier describes nearly shooting a child who was carrying a toy gun), and watching The O.C. Driven by sibling rivalry, Jake even puts himself in harm’s way by going out on combat missions. Brothers at War doesn’t have an ideology. Soldiers in the field defend each other out of personal solidarity, not abstract ideas; the same impulse drives this movie forward. It’s unlike any other war documentary and can’t be recommended strongly enough. –Bret Fetzer
Buy “Brothers at War” For Only $11.03
March 10, 2008
#1
This is my first time doing this. I seen this movie here in Killeen,Texas in 2009 after finishing my 2nd tour. This movie hit home for me because it tells my story and my fellow soldiers story like i never seen. I will have everone i know go and support this film and i will show my sister so she will have a complete idea of what we go thru when we are deployed. Jake Rademacher has done the impossible and i thank him
March 10, 2008
#2
My husband and I saw this movie at the theater in Jacksonville, NC while visiting our son at Camp Lejeune. We really admired the courage and determination it took to make this film. The Rademacher family opened up their lives to allow this film to be made and to allow the outside world to see both their strengths and their struggles. We followed Jake Rademacher on the website as he hosted the showing of this movie in theaters around the country. Upon release of the video we were excited to get our own copy and loan it to our family and friends.
March 10, 2008
#3
Wonderful documentary depicting what truly goes on behind the scenes of war in the eyes of the military. DEFINITELY a must to see for all eyes, including those who are against the war. It will certainly give you a better perspective on what our armed forces and military and their immediate families sacrifice for our freedoms.
They are truly our heroes.
Everyone should watch this documentary. I highly recommend it. It was very well done.
March 10, 2008
#4
My wife, who kept up the home front as this Career Marine went three more times to Viet Nam (went once before we married), is convinced that this is the best movie made about the home impact of war. We forget that, while we soldiers can lose ourself in the arena of combat, family and loved ones have to mix their fears and concerns against living in an environment that most of the time doesn’t seem aware that there is a war. This film should be a must see for all Americans and especially for anybody thinking about marrying a career military person. I bought it and it is now in my DVD library.
March 10, 2008
#5
Oldest brother Jake Rademacher provides a powerful look at the dangers, tensions & lighter moments shared by him and 2 of his younger brothers, Isaac & Joe during the war in Iraq. Jake’s gritty film shows both the intense, dangerous times during military operations and some of the lighter moments away from the action and with their loved ones back in the States.
Gary Sinise, the accomplished movie actor (and the male lead in the CSI: New York TV series), saw this documentary at the 2008 GI Film Festival and decided that it was a film that needed to be more widely seen and appreciated. He committed much of his own time and energy into getting BROTHERS AT WAR into movie theaters across the US. Sinise has been on TV talk shows and some of the cable networks promoting the film to provide Americans with a stark look at the impact of war on the families of those serving in harm’s way, as well as on the military service members themselves during their tours in Iraq and when back home.
While not spell-binding, there are enough intense incidents in this behind-the-scenes documentary for viewers to understand the tension, shock & angst that soldiers experience on a daily basis during their tours. There is one especially graphic scene of an Iraqi soldier gravely wounded by an IED explosion.
The overall mood of the film is somber. Even the scenes back in Raeford, NC, which is brother Isaac Rademacher’s home near Fort Bragg military base, are intense. The brotherly interplay appears light-hearted at first glance, but watching & listening closely to veterans Isaac & Joe Rademacher will reveal underlying deep, withheld traumatic memories & feelings that all combat veterans carry with them for most of their lives.