When I sat down to watch Jim Sheridan’s film Brothers, I originally expected to be bored by yet another cliché love story set against the backdrop of war. We’ve all seen sappy love films such as this, and they all generally follow the same plot: innocent, doe-eyed girl falls in love with man (who is nothing short of an Abercrombie model) , man goes to war, girl is heartbroken, the viewer questions whether or not the relationship will be sustained, man returns from war and reunites with woman making a final comment on the power of love to overcome any obstacles. Indeed, the previews of Brothers seemed to suggest that the movie would follow this general plotline, flashing images of the beautiful Natalie Portman in tears as Toby McGuire, stoical, leaves for war. Yet much to my surprise, Brothers defied all of the clichés; in a dark and emotionally provocative story, Sheridan’s film explored the traumatic and devastating effects of serving in the military, both on troops and their families.
The story is centered around Sam Cahill (played by Toby McGuire), a marine captain who volunteers to serve in Afghanistan, leaving his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and children behind. Sam and another officer embark on a dangerous combat mission, and are captured by terrorists and imprisoned for months. The horrors that Sam and his friend witness while imprisoned are absolutely gruesome, and unfortunately, Sam is forced to partake in the most terrible act of all: murder. The terrorists force Sam to either beat his friend to death with a metal rod or face death himself, and Sam ultimately chooses the former. When he finally returns home (much to his family’s surprise, who had presumed him to be dead), Sam’s personality is entirely altered. Aloof and occasionally violent, Sam is merely a shadow of his former self.
Psychologists Mynatt and Doherty, authors of Understanding Human Behavior, claim that adaption is the fundamental property of human behavior and cognition. Without the ability to adapt, we would not be able to survive because we would not be able to adjust to the ever-changing situations that life throws at us. Sam was able to successfully adapt to the squalid conditions of his prison because it was critical to his survival. Yet when he returned home, Sam could not readapt to the quiet suburban life he had once lead. Why?
In my opinion, Sam’s adaptation to his domestic life was hindered totally by the cognitive dissonance he was experiencing from the murder of his friend. Cognitive dissonance is the misalignment of behaviors and beliefs. It is easy to see that Sam was a good person based on the fact that he was both a father and a military volunteer. Thus, choosing to murder another human being was a behavior that did not align with his honest values. The death of Sam’s friend was truly not his fault, yet Sam feels like the murder is his fault because he felt like he made the choice to murder. Indeed, the terrorists seemed to understand how cognitive dissonance works because cognitive dissonance can only occur when individuals feel as if they willingly made the choice to behave in a way which is not in accordance with their beliefs. Thus, by forcing Sam to choose between his own life and another, they knew that they were ultimately condemning him to an incredibly unpleasant psychological state which ultimately affected his ability to adapt successfully to his former lifestyle which ultimately prevented him from functioning properly at home which ultimately lead to his mental breakdown.
So Brothers doesn’t prompt the whimsical fantasies that a love story can provide; it prompts us to confront the truth. It prompts us to ask ourselves whether it is right to expect our fellow humans to assume the burden of murder, and its psychological consequences, when none of us will ever have to assume this burden. It forces us to look within ourselves and to ask the question which people have grappled with since the dawn of time: what does it mean to be human?
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