The bulk of thenarrative that follows entwines the emotional experiences of the four survivorsas they go home to the Seattle suburb of Spokane, where they all(rather improbably) live.Įach returns,warily and uncomfortably, to find it virtually impossible to assimilate intotheir current circumstances. In the streetviolence that follows maintenance driver Vanessa Price (Biel)loses her right hand Jamal Atkins (Rapper 50 Cent, billed as Curtis Jackson)suffers a permanent back injury army specialist Tommy (Presley) sees hisclosest friend felled in combat operations and field surgeon Will (Jackson) ispsychologically damaged by the trauma. The Iraq-setprologue (filmed in Morocco)sees humanitarian aid workers notified of their forthcoming return home, beforetheir convoy of trucks is intercepted and ambushed by insurgents. The script, afirst produced work by Mark Friedman, plays like a right-wing iteration of HalAshby's Vietnammovie Coming Home. Awards profile will not be of any significance. Internationally, the subjectmatter is similarly going to be a turnoff: TV and DVD is its likely destinationof choice. In the US, where the film enjoys a platform release in New York and Los Angeles fromDec 15, it is likely to find the going tricky, given the political moodregarding US policy in Iraq and thefiercely competitive holiday release schedule. But it eschews morallytough considerations of valour, sacrifice, betrayal or defeat in favour ofhammering the audience into submission with a mix of agitprop and hysteria.

The first Hollywood film to directly address theemotional and political repercussions of the USoccupation of Iraq,Irwin Winkler's Home Of The Brave isa particularly blunt instrument that never satisfies as entertainment,effective storytelling or moral inquiry.ĭidactic and politicallyincoherent, its complex and emotionally risky scenariois the return of several disparate individuals to the US home front.

Home of the brave 2006 cast