- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Box set; Black & White; DVD; NTSC
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 FetzerINSIDE THE WAR MACHINE
As a boy raised in Hamburg, Germany, after World War I, Werner Gramckow cared about only two things: soccer and going to America. His brother, Hans, mov! ed there ten years before the start of World War II and became! an inte lligence officer in the US Army. Later, when Werner was drafted into the Wehrmacht, the brothers ended up fighting on opposite sides.
As a reluctant soldier in Hitler’s army, Werner endured both the horrors and the absurdity of war, including:
• The insidious Nazi takeover of Germany through propaganda, political intrigue, and violence.
• The Russian front, where two million people were butchered; Werner was one of very few survivors.
• Service in a cavalry that chased battles around Europe on bicycles.
Brothers at War is an extraordinary survival tale in the tradition of the greatest war stories, written by a soldier who hoped he’d never have to fire a weaponâ€"and wished only to get out of the country alive.
About the Author
After surviving World War II, Werner Gramckow moved to the United States and became a leader in America’s agriculture industry. He is the founder of Southland Sod,! which developed the unique Marathon® brand sod (www.sod.com).
INSIDE THE WAR MACHINE
As a boy raised in Hamburg, Germany, after World War I, Werner Gramckow cared about only two things: soccer and going to America. His brother, Hans, moved there ten years before the start of World War II and became an intelligence officer in the US Army. Later, when Werner was drafted into the Wehrmacht, the brothers ended up fighting on opposite sides.
As a reluctant soldier in Hitler’s army, Werner endured both the horrors and the absurdity of war, including:
• The insidious Nazi takeover of Germany through propaganda, political intrigue, and violence.
• The Russian front, where two million people were butchered; Werner was one of very few survivors.
• Service in a cavalry that chased battles around Europe on bicycles.
Brothers at War is an extraordinary survival tale in the tradition of the greatest war stories, writte! n by a soldier who hoped he’d never have to fire a weaponâ€"! and wish ed only to get out of the country alive.
About the Author
After surviving World War II, Werner Gramckow moved to the United States and became a leader in America’s agriculture industry. He is the founder of Southland Sod, which developed the unique Marathon® brand sod (www.sod.com).
Captain Sam Cahill (Maguire) is embarking on his fourth tour of duty, leaving behind his beloved wife (Portman) and two daughters. When Sam’s Blackhawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains of Afghanistan, the worst is presumed, leaving an enormous void in the family. Despite a dark history, Sam’s charismatic younger brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) steps in to fill the family void.Screenwriter David Benioff (
The 25th Hour) didn't have to do much to relocate
Brothers from Denmark to America. The story remains the same: Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) loves his family, but he's equally devoted to his career. Just as his ne'er-do-well brother, Tomm! y (Jake Gyllenhaal), exits prison, where he did time for robbery, the Marines deploy Sam to Afghanistan. Tommy starts looking in on his wary sister-in-law, Grace (Natalie Portman), but then Sam's helicopter crashes in the mountains, and the military informs Grace that her husband has died. Unbeknownst to the Cahill clan, the Taliban has taken Sam hostage and tortures him to elicit information. Sam resists, but his colleague caves, leading to an unthinkable act. Back in New Mexico, Grace and Tommy grow closer, stopping just short of a full-blown affair (in Susanne Bier's original, they take the plunge). Even Tommy's disapproving Vietnam vet father, Hank (Sam Shepard), sees his son in a new light after Tommy renovates Grace's kitchen. But when Sam is rescued by his company, he returns a broken man and is convinced that his wife has fallen in love with his brother. Even his daughters are afraid of him (Bailee Madison impresses as the eldest). As in Bier's film, Jim Sheridan (In America) elevates redemption and forgiveness over t! ragedy a nd loss, and his well-meaning remake gets off to a solid start, but it loses steam by the end.
Brothers offers a compelling scenario, but the telling is too overstated to capture the full heartbreak of the situation.
--Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Brothers (Click for larger image) BROTHERS AT WAR is Jerold S. Auerbach's probing and poignant exploration of the tragedy of the Altalena, the doomed ship whose arrival in Israel ignited Jewish fratricidal conflict only weeks after its declaration of statehood in 1948. The destruction of the Altalena, with sixteen of its fighters killed by Israeli soldiers in a bitter two-day battle, threatened the new nation with civil war. This is the first history of the Altalena by a historian and the first to locate it within the context of ancient Jewish and contemporary Israeli history. The Altalena remains embedded in Israeli memory, Auerbach suggests, still framing unresolved issues of political legitimacy in the Jewish state. Identified as "America's foremost intellectual exponent of right-w! ing Zionism," Jerold Auerbach is the author of nine books incl! uding HE BRON JEWS: MEMORY AND CONFLICT IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL (2009), a history of the world's oldest continuing Jewish community. He is Professor Emeritus of History at Wellesley College.This set includes seven of only thirteen Marx Brothers films ever made! Collection includes: "A Night at the Opera" (1935) - The Marx Brothers turn Mrs. Claypool's opera into chaos in their efforts to help two young hopefuls get a break. It contains the famous scene where Groucho, Chico and Harpo cram a ship's stateroom with wall-to-wall people, gags, one-liners, musical riffs and two hard-boiled eggs. "A Day at the Races" (1937) - Groucho stars as Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a horse veterinarian dispensing horse pills and quips with equal glee. Chico selling racing tips, Harpo destroying a piano to turn it into a harp and favorite foil actress Margaret Dumont make this thoroughbred comedy wall-to-wall hilarity. "A Night in Casablanca" (1946) - This parody of the Bogart/Bergman 1943 classic features the Naz! is vs. the "nutsies" as the Marx Brothers foil Axis criminals when they find stolen jewels and paintings Nazis have hidden in a hotel. "Room Service"/"At the Circus" - These two films are combined on one disc to provide double doses of laughter. In "Room Service" (1938), Lucille Ball and Ann Miller provide comic co-star support while the Marx Brothers play producers trying to keep their show above water and a hotel room over their head. In "At the Circus" (1939) Groucho stars as professional shyster lawyer J. Cheever Loophole in the middle of big-top bedlam as the boys try to save the circus and look to Margaret Dumont for the money to do so. Groucho sings one of his famous songs, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady." "Go West"/"The Big Store" - Another Marx Brothers twin bill makes this a hilarious comedy "two-fer." In the first, the Marxmen "Go West" (1940) to the land of outlaws and Indians where the fun never stops and where they outwit a land grabber. In "The Big Store" (1941), G! roucho plays Attorney Wolf J. Flywheel who with sidekick Wacky! (Harpo) and bodyguard Ravelli (Chico) are investigating the shady dealings of a crooked department store owner. Bonus extras include commentary by Leonard Maltin.When it comes to long-awaited treats like
The Marx Brothers Collection, you can never get too much of a good thing. These seven comedies can't compare to the sheer lunacy of the five classics (
The Cocoanuts,
Animal Crackers,
Monkey Business,
Horse Feathers, and
Duck Soup) that the Marx Bros. made for Paramount between 1929 and 1933 (available in
The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection), but when uber-producer Irving Thalberg signed Groucho, Harpo, and Chico to an MGM contract in 1935 (by which time sibling costar Zeppo had become the team's off-screen manager), he knew just how to cure their box-office blues. As a result,
A Night at the Opera and
A Day at the Races were critical and commercial hits, lavishly produced according to the "Tiffany" studio's golde! n-age formula of glamorous set pieces and musical numbers combined with sensible plots that smoothly integrated snappy, well-written Marxian antics.
Opera is the jewel of this set, with timeless scenes (the Stateroom, the Groucho-Chico contract negotiation, etc.) that rank among the greatest bits of silver-screen comedy... not to mention Groucho's flirtatious insults at Margaret Dumont's upper-crust expense.
A Day at the Races deserves near-equal acclaim ("Get-a your tootsie-fruitsie ice cream!"), but Thalberg's death in 1937 dealt a devastating blow, and the Marxes suffered from studio indifference, resulting in a succession of comedies that are timelessly enjoyable even as they fall prey to diminishing returns. By the time they made Go West and The Big Store, the Marxes were out of their element, and a few of the musical interludes indulge racial stereotypes that were common in the studio era. Despite this, these movies remain fresh and fran! tic, and Warner Bros. (holder of the RKO and MGM libraries) ha! s done a marvelous job of packaging The Marx Brothers Collection to nostalgically approximate the filmgoing experience of the 1930s and '40s, with vintage shorts (Our Gang, Robert Benchley comedies, MGM cartoons, etc.) from the time of each feature's original release. Archival materials are slim but worthwhile (especially Groucho's 1961 interview with TV talk-show host Hy Gardner), and while Glenn Mitchell's commentary on Races is sparse and superficial, Leonard Maltin brings his usual superfan's enthusiasm and encyclopedic knowledge to bear on a full-length Opera commentary track. The new documentaries are somewhat redundant, but essential viewing for Marx Bros. neophytes. With all seven films presented in pristine condition, this is definitely a Marx Brothers Collection worth having. --Jeff Shannon
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