Brothers at War

Putting a personal spin on what by now seems like a familiar documentary subject, filmmaker Jake Rademacher followed his two enlisted brothers, Isaac and Joe, to Iraq. The director joins Isaac on an uneventful reconnaissance mission; after being more or less dared by Joe, however, Jake ventures into hot zones, where he bears frighteningly close witness to an IED explosion and spends a harrowing mission with a trigger-happy sniper. The movie is remarkable for its level of access, yet never questions the basic justness of the cause; for all its value, Brothers at War seems too crypto-jingoistic for comfort.