Reporter's Notebook

“Brothers at War”

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At last, the GIFF rolled out a must-see for any service member.

“Brothers at War” is a documentary by Jake Rademacher, the oldest of seven children, two of whom are in the Army. Capt. Isaac and Sgt. Joe Rademacher were both members of the 82^nd Airborne Division at the time of filming about three years ago.

Jake decided to follow his brothers to Iraq – as a documentarist, not a soldier – after Isaac and Joe had made a deployment together, and grown both closer to each other and more distant from Jake.

The venture is full of personal intrigue: Jake is trying to experience a world his brothers are not entirely interested in sharing with him. It’s a world Jake wanted very badly to be a part of: In the film’s beginning, he explains how he spent his entire youth preparing to go to West Point, from which he was rejected. Isaac was the one who ended up graduating first in his class from The Point. Joe enlisted soon after and became an accomplished sniper.

Seeing Jake in Iraq with Isaac’s intel unit will be highly entertaining for any soldier, airman, Marine or sailor: Jake looks somewhat like Jeff Goldblum in the middle of a troop of buffed-out warriors. He constantly sticks out, whether it’s by his need for sunscreen or his lack of bladder fortitude on long Humvee rides.

But he does get a little sense of a deployed troop’s life. After a recon mission and a few weeks, Jake returns home, still not feeling truly connected to his soldier kin.

The film takes on several angles from there, and this is what will make it truly interesting and resonant for troops of all stripes. The film looks at issues of family, the emotional hardening that happens on deployment, reintegration (and lack thereof), and even the perspective of an Iraqi translator watching his country rip apart for the promise of healing.

I don’t want to spoil too much, but there are enough surprises and moments of raw honesty to affect all viewers. Not only that, the film is shot in crystal-clear definition. It was the best look at Iraq I’ve ever had.

Rademacher said he hopes to start distributing the film to theaters in military markets in August or September. It’s hard to explain the visual beauty and emotional depth of this picture, but you’ve gotta trust me: Put this in your Google calendar. When you see “Brothers at War” at your local theater, take your whole unit and your whole family.