Military Movies - Military Times

Film review: ‘Brothers at War’

Jake Rademacher was the one who was supposed to be in Iraq. He spent his high school years preparing for West Point and seemed destined to find his way into battle.

“Not only did I want to be a soldier, I drove everything in my life toward it because I always wanted to go to war,” Rademacher says in his new documentary. “I always wanted to see it.”

Rademacher did not make it into West Point, but his younger brother, Isaac, did. Their youngest brother, Joe, became a soldier too, graduating at the top of his class in Ranger and sniper schools.

The oldest of five brothers from Decatur, Ill., Jake Rademacher gave up his dream to wear a uniform, but he didn’t give up on seeing battle. He made two trips to Iraq during the height of the insurgency to embed with his brother’s unit and document the war as a civilian. His hours of footage eventually became “Brothers at War,” a new documentary released by Samuel Goldwyn films and opening in limited release this month.

The film follows Rademacher on his journey in Iraq and as his family copes with the effects of war back home. Rademacher says he made the film to better understand his brothers and why they chose to fight.

“I want to know what’s going on in Iraq because I have two brothers serving there,” he says. “These guys are putting their lives on the line. Why are they doing it? I need to know.”

He also made the film to share with an American public far removed from the battle.

“They deserve to see what our soldiers do, what the war is for and what it’s about for us as soldiers,” says Capt. Isaac Rademacher. “I’ve never seen anything that bears so much truth, and then just steps away.”

The film chronicles Jake’s two civilian deployments and four embeds with combat units around Iraq, including a weeklong stint with a reconnaissance unit monitoring the Syrian border, and with a group of Iraqi army soldiers as they are trained by U.S. Marines. Rademacher’s goal, he says, was to show the real war, without political bent or judgment — the daily grind, the heat and filth, the danger and, above all, the brotherhood.

“I think the film is really a film about brotherhood set against a backdrop of the war in Iraq,” Jake says. “I learn about what my brothers do through their brothers in arms.”

Jake attempted to close a growing gap between himself and Joe, who is serving as an instructor at sniper school. Joe doubted that embedding for a few weeks as a filmmaker would give his oldest brother a real perspective of what it means to put on a uniform.

“I don’t know what Joe needs,” Jake says. “Joe needs me to go out and kill some people. Get some confirmed kills. Then maybe I can sit next to him at the dinner table.

“I’ll never be hard enough for Joe, which is fine with me.”

The filmmakers, including producer Gary Sinise, gathered Feb. 20 at a private screening in Washington, D.C., to talk about the film.

“It’s such a positive, positive portrait of our military families, the dedication of our troops have, what they’re doing over there, the love that a brother has for his two brothers,” Sinise says. “When they asked if I would actually get involved with the film, I was humbled and I was honored.”

A group of wounded warriors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center were also in attendance at the screening.

“This is probably the most accurate portrayal, besides the movie ‘Black Hawk Down,’ ” says Spc. Hien Tran of the 222nd Infantry, Fort Drum, N.Y. After being injured in Iraq, Tran says he avoids most war movies, but this one captures the realism of service better than most.

“I really thought the film was awesome,” says Pfc. Geraldo Badell, from the 230th Infantry in Fort Polk, La. “Since he missed his family so much, he wanted to go over there and see what his brothers were doing.”

“Brothers at War” begins with the emotional deployment of Isaac and ends with a similar departure by Joe. For the filmmaker, the space between attempts to answer the question: Why did my brothers go to war?

“I don’t know if I’ve earned a seat at the table with Joe,” he says as Joe boards a plane for Iraq in the film’s final frames. “But I do know that having walked a mile in my brothers’ shoes, I understand each of them better now.”

———

“Brothers at War” is rated R for strong language. It opened in limited release March 13 in select cities near major military installations and will open in wider release March 27. To arrange for a screening at a theater near you, or for showtimes and schedules, visit www.brothersatwarmovie.com.