Friday, 15 July 2011

Jim Sheridan's Brothers - a look at how Hollywood adapts national identity

After all the excitement of the last few days, with more than its fair show of gun showdowns, gritty worms and rampaging torrents, it makes a rather pleasant interlude to sit back in comfort this evening and read an indepth article that takes us back to those days of Brothers. This edition of Film International looks at what Jim Sheridan did with the Danish original by Susanne Bier to 'Hollywoodise' its treatment of family issues and the war in Afghanistan. Above all, it looks at how nationalism is shifted when two very different countries adapt the same story. Of coursem this is confused somewhat because Sheridan is from Ireland, the old world. Along the way of course, there is Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman.














Many thanks to BBMISwear for the scans.
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6 comments:

  1. Wet Dark and Wild15 July 2011 at 21:31

    Hope you all had a good day - it's the weekend... thank heavens :)

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  2. Susan15 July 2011 at 21:36

    Wow. Having read the entire article once, I'm not sure if I have just had a mini crash-course in movie psychology across national and cultural boundaries or if I need to sign up for such a course in order to fully comprehend the fundamental differences in American and Danish cinema.

    Thanks for posting it, Kate. I had been curious about the differences between the original and the Hollywood remake. Now I'm thinking that its "Hollywoodization" at least brought a very good and complicated story to the notice of (some) American filmgoers.

    I had thought that the movie was primarily about the family dynamics when Tommy Cahill started to get his act together after the presumed loss of his older brother and the resultant turmoil when Sam returned with the knowledge of what he had done to survive and return to his family. I didn't realize there was so much underlying political/psychological commentary about the effects of war in the original. Or do I still not understand Danish cinema?

    Yes, thank heavens for the weekend! I can give my brain a rest and just concentrate on going to see the very last Harry Potter movie. How would that have been different if it had been made in Denmark? :)

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  3. Wet Dark and Wild15 July 2011 at 22:38

    Fantastic, Susan! Thanks so much for taking the trouble to read all of it. I haven't done that yet. I've downloaded it to travel with me around this weekend. It just shows what a complicated business Hollywoodisation is - it's also interesting how Hollywood is so keen on doing this with Danish and Scandinavian cinema. I have seen the original now and it seemed darker to me. But then I enjoyed some of the relief that Tommy (and Jake) brought to the US film. And then Jim is Irish! He brought his family element to it.

    I'll be trying to fit in Harry Potter over the next couple of days. Off to a festival of history and literature this weekend (in the pouring rain...). Have a good one!

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  4. Wet Dark and Wild16 July 2011 at 09:30

    Morning everyone! Ok it can stop raining now... Off to a muddy field. Expect an interlude - with Roman soldiers perhaps!

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  5. BBMISwear16 July 2011 at 21:33

    It's great to see you found the article interesting enough to post, WDW, and that you really found it had some interesting themes, Susan. I thought it looked quite intriguing but was packing up for vacation so didn't have time to read it - I scanned it, sent it along it put it in the beach bag. Guests head out tomorrow so some quiet beach reading is in order for me!!

    Thanks for posting the video from the L.A. ride along/real life gang shooting Jake experienced, WDW - yikes!! I heard about it on Thursday and was a little freaked out! I didn't have time to look for the video but was glad to see you put it up. This on the heels of MvW is just plain scary - what happened to watching relaxing Jake videos (?!) LOL!!

    Happy Summer all (or to those who are experiencing the summer weather that we are in New England)!

    Until next time...

    :-)

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  6. Wet Dark and Wild16 July 2011 at 21:53

    Hello BBMISwear :-) I am glad you sent the article - thank you! It's good to see such indepth discussion of such an underrated film.

    That video was pretty scary but I am glad this kind of research is going into End of Watch.

    The weather here is so unpredictable this week! This morning absolutely torrential and this afternoon hot and sunny!

    New post :)

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