Jake Church
- 2007
- R
A veteran of the first Gulf War who later went on to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq discovers that returning to civilian life after the trauma he endured is but an empty dream in director Francesco Lucente's harrowing drama. Years ago, when he served in the first Gulf War, Jerry (Jamie Dreven) was a patriotic Marine reservist driven by a desire to protect his fellow countrymen. Later, despite being embittered by the broken promises of the military and still not having received the respect that he so badly craved, the civically minded father of three is redeployed to Afghanistan and Iraq only to be irreversibly damaged by the horrors of war. Now Jerry has returned home to his wife and family, struggling beneath the poverty line in a cramped trailer and devastated by night terrors. Jerry's wife Nora is unsympathetic to her husband's plight, and soon begins stashing their children's newspaper route earnings in order to fund an escape. When Jerry discovers that Nora has betrayed him, the atrocity that he commits proves so shocking that even the most seasoned war veterans will recoil in horror. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Draven, Grace Fulton, (more)
Ang Lee's adaptation of E. Annie Proulx's story Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as young cowboys named Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar. Each of them is hired to corral sheep on the title location and they soon bond very closely. Their platonic relationship explodes into a physical one, but eventually the two are separated when their job comes to an end. Although the two follow different life paths -- one becoming a father of two and the other marrying into a successful business -- they have a reunion years later. Each is affected profoundly by the rekindling of their old feelings for each other. Those feelings lead each to consider what continuing their hidden relationship would cost them. The screenplay was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
