HOME OF THE BRAVE

HOME OF THE BRAVE is a modernized version of the classic post World War II movie THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. It tells the story of soldiers coming home from Iraq and having difficulty adjusting to civilian life because they are haunted by the horrors of war they have experienced.

The movie opens with some troops in Iraq receiving the good news they will be headed home in two weeks. Then, they are sent on a goodwill mission delivering supplies needed by some Iraqi people. The caravan is ambushed. Some troops are killed, and others are severely injured.

The movie shifts to Spokane, Wash., where Army doctor Will Marsh (played by Samuel L. Jackson) comes home to a wife and daughter who love him and a teenage son who opposes the war and resents his father’s role in it. Vanessa Price (played by Jessica Biel) comes home missing her right hand lost in the ambush. Tommy Yates (played by Brian Presley) returns for his best friend’s funeral – a casualty of the ambush. Jamal Aiken (played by Curtis Jackson) returns just plain bitter about all he’s gone through for people who don’t care.

The movie deals with bad dreams and memories, difficulty sleeping, drug use, alcoholism, and rage, among other problems, experienced by those trying to shift from battlefield conditions to civilian life. While not all soldiers come home with the problems experienced by this foursome, some do and this movie causes the typical civilian to consider the price paid by our troops for our freedom and relative safety here at home. The movie makes the war look horrible but is not anti-war. Dr. Marsh at one point looks out his kitchen window at family and friends enjoying a meal and appears to have thoughts similar to Jamal’s, but without the high level of bitterness. However, when he talks with his son he says, “If we just leave, they’ll tear each other apart.”

HOME OF THE BRAVE is not a John Wayne style exercise in building patriotism. Neither is it a liberal anti-war movie. Most viewers will wind up rooting for the troops to meld peacefully back into civilian life. The audience suffers with the soldiers when they fail and rejoices with them when they succeed. While it may be good for Americans to know more about what their troops go through on their behalf, the movie is loaded to the hilt with foul language, bad attitudes, bad behavior, drinking, smoking, and drugs as well as some very strong war violence in the opening and flashback sequences. It is also void of any reliance on God. The answer is always more drugs and counseling.

In real life, many troops do come home and adjust to civilian life without the trauma shown in this movie. Many of these troops rely on God for help in overcoming issues like lost limbs, lost friends and horrible memories. Surveys show that as many as 88 percent of Americans believe in God, but so often movies are made as if He simply doesn’t exist. The filmmakers would have gagged at the idea of making the movie “unrealistic” by leaving out the foul language, but scenes of troops praying or returned troops meeting with the pastor of their church probably aren’t even considered. Modern movie “realism” ignores God, which is one reason many Christians ignore movies.