Home of the Brave (2006 film)

Home of the Brave is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Irwin Winkler starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, Curtis Jackson, Christina Ricci and Chad Michael Murray that follows the lives of four Army National Guard soldiers in Iraq and their return to the United States. The film was shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco and in Spokane, Washington.^[1] It was a critical and box office bomb.^[2][3]

Plot

Shortly after learning their unit will soon return home, American soldiers Lieutenant Colonel Dr. William Marsh (Samuel L. Jackson), Sergeant Vanessa Price (Jessica Biel), Specialists Tommy Yates (Brian Presley) Jamal Aiken (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), and Private Jordan Owens (Chad Michael Murray) are on their final mission, in a vehicle in a convoy bringing medical supplies to a remote Iraqi village. They are ambushed by insurgents. The forward vehicles of the convoy are trapped in a narrow street and forced to fight the attackers. The rear vehicles manage to escape the initial barrage by taking a side-street, only to be met with an improvised explosive device hidden in the carcass of a dead dog. Sgt. Price, the driver, is seriously wounded, as her front seat passenger is killed instantly. A soldier in their team is shot and killed pursuing the young boys who left the bomb and other attackers.

Aiken, Yates and Owens head out to fight the attackers. Aiken trips on loose bricks from a broken wall and injures his back, so Yates and Owens continue alone, finding the shooters in a graveyard. Wounded in the leg, Yates falls behind as Owens races after the shooter. However, the shooter has surreptitiously moved, and Owens is shot from behind. Yates arrives, but the shooter is already gone, and it is too late for Owens, who dies in Yates' arms.

At a field hospital, a mortar attack injures multiple personnel and destroys many vehicles. The medical staff, including Marsh, is struggling to care for the wounded and dying as mortars rain down upon the compound. A young soldier carries his squad-mate into the trauma care ward. While Marsh addresses another soldier's wounds, the man draws a

• Samuel L. Jackson as Lieutenant Colonel Dr. William "Will" Marsh M.D.
• Jessica Biel as Sergeant Vanessa Price
• Brian Presley as Specialist Tommy Yates
• Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Specialist Jamal Aiken
• Chad Michael Murray as Private Jordan Owens
• Christina Ricci as Sarah Schivino
• Victoria Rowell as Penelope Marsh
• Vyto Ruginis as Hank Yates

Reception

Box office

The film was opened in only 3 theaters in 2006 and earned $51,708 at the box office domestically and $447,912 in the rest of the world.^{[4][failed verification]} Originally released on December 15, 2006 for Oscar consideration, the production studio re-thought the release pattern and decided to pull it from theaters, planning on showing it to a wider audience later in the year. It was re-released on May 11, 2007 in 44 theaters, but this did not increase the film's financial earnings.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 22% based on reviews from 58 critics. The site's consensus stated: "The ensemble cast works hard, but hammy direction and a script lacking in nuance ruins this movie’s noble intentions."^[2] On Metacritic it has a score of 42% based on reviews from 15 critics.^[3]

The A.V. Club named it in its top 100 flops.^[5] TV Guide gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and commented that the film "starts with a bang and ends in a long, protracted whimper" and Stephen Holden from The New York Times said you "feel as if you have just sat through an earnest made-for-television movie" and in the end "an honorable dud".^[6][7]

Home media

The Numbers reported 236,905 units sold, accounting for revenue of $4,735,731.^{[8][failed verification]}

Awards

It was nominated for a