This tale of two sons (seems to me I read that somewhere before) tracks the interweavings of the relationship between Sam (Tobey Maguire) and Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) Cahill as their paths diverge and converge in their young adulthood. Sam is the "good" one, a captain in the Marines, who is being sent off for his fourth tour of duty, while Tommy is the "bad" one, having recently been released from prison after serving a stint for armed robbery. Both of them have the sad mark upon their lives placed there by their alcoholic father, Hank (Sam Shepard), a decorated Marine in his own right. So, once again, this is a story of fathers and sons.

When Sam is presumed killed in battle, Tommy begins to slowly assert himself as the man about the house. It's not initially done with any romantic intentions toward Sam's wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), or with the intent to be father to Sam's two girls. But the reality is that Tommy has been without a friend or companionship in quite some time, and Grace's heart has been badly scarred by the loss... though you know if you've seen the trailer that Sam isn't dead.

The movie has two "choice" defining moments. In the first, Sam murders his fellow prisoner of war (and high school friend) to avoid being executed himself. While there is a certain moral conundrum in this me-or-him scenario, I was struck by Maguire's portrayal of Sam in that moment. It's in a fit of rage that he bashes in the head of his friend, not dispassionately. But, of course, that's the same passion with which he destroys the newly remodeled kitchen in his house (which Tommy has rebuilt to "work out" his penance).

That passionate destruction is the result of choice defining moment number two when one of Sam's daughters lies about the relationship between Tommy and Grace, feeding Sam's paranoia. Before going further, I have to admit that I found the kiss to be a betrayal so it's hard to determine from an absolute point of view that consummating sex was really "worse" from a betrayal perspective. Still, in a scene that would've been more mentally jarring if Atonement hadn't run along a few years ealier, Sam is betrayed by his family for the second time.

I'll leave all of the relational processing to someone more versed in family systems, but note this in closing. Like The Hurt Locker, Brothers highlights that post traumatic stress disorder is something that happens as a result of war to people who are perfectly well-meaning prior to those events. As long as there is war, there will be a need for the counseling and care for those who are exposed to its brutalities. Sam Cahill comes home and everyone expects him to be fine. He's not. But there is no one there who is ready to care for him, and, unfortunately, that's the reality for too many of our men and women in the armed forces.