Surprisingly incoherent and boring

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Directed by, co-written by and starring Johnny Depp, this movie is not for the faint of heart, but the brave few who can stand this movie. That's if you can find it. This movie is rare and hard to find in the states. Since Depp was deeply upset at the negative reviews received from the American critics attending an otherwise successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival. As a result he has refused to show the film in the United States. This movie is too gloomy and hard to watch in my opinion. It just a film that commit suicide by having a protagonist didn't even went out fighting or anything. It seems to me that he had several ways to get out of the deal in the end of the movie. Johnny Depp starts as Raphael, a Native American man who love his wife and family, but in desperate for a job and money living in a cycle of poverty environment. Rather than trying to exit his environment, acknowledge his barriers like his criminal record and dealt with his alcoholism. He doesn't try set realistic goals to get his family on the right track, but instead seek the easy way out by cowardly commit suicide in the oddest way, by having himself kill for a snuff film. This movie isn't uplifting, entertaining, or have some type of positive message. It's just a depression film of a man who lost all hope and agrees to participate in a snuff film trading his life for a large sum of money so that his wife and two kids can lead a decent life. He strikes a deal with McCarthy (Marlon Brando) and has one week to live. Since Raphael often absent presence in the life of his wife and children, he tries his best to make the time with them as great as possible. Imminent death affords Depp the chance to finally be a responsible father and husband and enjoy what left of his life. The story sprang from a 1991 novel by Gregory McDonald, best known as the man behind the long-running, lighthearted comedy 'Fletch' series. Many details were changed in the film version from the novel with the same name. I think the movie might have gone over a bit better if it had stuck closer to the source material. The movie even has a lot of missing scenes in some DVD versions out there. In a bootleg version of the film. The bad guy created a stigmata by driving a stake through his hand, just in case anyone in the audience misses the parallels between Raphael and Jesus. The main different was that the film tries too hard to makes Raphael look like a post-modern Jesus archetype, by having him sacrificing himself for his family, but he actually ended up looking like a loser doing it. Jesus didn't commit suicide because he was depress, alcoholic, and trying to earn money through that way. Jesus was sentenced by a court to die, Jesus purpose was to redeem humanity, while Raphael just gives up and lets the bad guys just kill him for no cause besides trusting a snuff filmmaker to provide his family after his death. Who knew that trusting snuff filmmakers is better than trusting, I don't know, your family. In no way toward the end of the film, does the bad guys get punish for their crimes, nor does he take steps to fight for his life. For having second billing Marlon Brando is barely in this film, sadly. Most of his scenes are just him rambling about life and death. Honestly, I didn't get what he was blathering on about but I'm pretty sure he or his henchmen Larry (Marshall Bell) barely explains the snuff film. The DVD box cover explains it more than the film. There is a scene, where the sadistic henchman Larry talks more about pooping while threating Raphael to keep to his promise to McCarthy. Are we supposed to take these bad guys serious? The movie goes a great lengths to be a smart film. I do like all the symbolisms examples like the face with the question mark, the way he is looking at his family while the background get dark, tribal drums playing over a long pan from imposing, oppressively sun baked mountains, etc. There were some really odd scenes like a man who runs around in what appears to be a giant hamster wheel and spends quality time fondling a goat that doesn't help the story. While it's beautifully photographed; it should have use the time to shines more on the immense poverty that thousands of Native Americans continue to face and how they can overcome it. Rather, we get a very slow paced story of death. If the audience knows if he will die in the end, and then why watch this film. What was the point of it all? Is it that when your wife and kids need you the most, it's okay if you volunteer to get tortured and killed for a snuff movie? It's pure nonsense to think that anyone would behave like Raphael do. It's totally unreal. Sorry, but the story is rather far-fetched. I think his family would rather have a father, than money. Overall: People, who advocate this movie, may say that the movie is about how much a man is willing to do in order to save his family. But he doesn't save his family, he gets himself killed for fast money. The Brave? I think this movie should be renamed, the Coward. Rafael took the coward way out. He could have lived and took the challenge of beginning a new life with his family. He chose to sacrifice himself to please evil man's desire. There is nothing beautiful about this mess.

The Brave (1997), starring Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando, serves to be an absorbing work of cinema for the intelligent audience. A modern take on Dr Faustus, The Brave presents the heart-wrenching tale of a poverty-stricken American Indian family of four (father, mother, and two children) living in a small trailer next to a garbage dump. The father, who is only recently released from the jail, is offered the chance to star as a victim in a snuff film--a motion picture genre that depicts the actual murder of a person or people without the aid of special effects. He quickly realizes that he is worthless to his family alive. On the contrary, if he accepts the offer then his family will be paid a sum of US$50,000. After accepting the advance, he is granted a week's time to be with his family before fulfilling the terms of the agreement. Johnny Depp not only directs the film but also co-writes the screenplay in collaboration with his brother. The movie features some of the most haunting scenes ever filmed in cinema, which allow the viewers to reflect on their own lives. And the real beauty of the movie is that the violence is only implicit (those on the look out out for excesses of sex and violence might be disappointed). The Brave highlights in the most poignant manner the perpetual plight of the American natives residing in the US, something that Marlon Brando vociferously raised his voice against at several junctures in his career (he even refused to accept the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Godfather). The movie features just one scene between Brando and Depp, but that scene is magical in so many ways. First, Brando's speech on life, death and sacrifice is mesmerizing to say the least. Second, Depp's facial expressions remind the viewer of the Brando of old. Third, it's one of Brando's final few screen presences... every second of his screen-time is worth cherishing. Fourth, the fact that the two characters are eternally connected despite having very little in common. The movie's improvisation on Dr. Faustus is worth appreciating: here the protagonist is willing to give away his life (as oppose to his soul) for a gain that's purely pecuniary in nature (as oppose to knowledge). It pretty much sums up the modern society's preference for money over knowledge. Another facet that makes the movie important and appealing is that despite being a Hollywood product, it has a strong indie feel associated with it. The credit for which should go to the Depp brothers. The arresting performances from Brando and Depp lift the movie above mediocrity despite its weak direction and average performances from the support cast. So, if you are looking for something different and thought-provoking to break your daily routine of watching banal, mindless Hollywood-like films then The Brave will surely succeed in titillating your senses.For more, please visit:http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com/

I am surprised that I had heard nothing of this movie ... but then I read that the talented Mr Depp had refused to show it after the controversy surrounding it ... which is very disappointing. Maybe you should have been a little more BRAVE about that choice Johnny, because a lot of people have missed a masterpiece and I don't call it that lightly.The direction was superb ... as was the story. There was not a word spoken for so much of the beginning of the movie, but we already had a sense of the character emerging before us, and the desperation he was facing.I watched the impending doom of the finale with such a heavy heart. A husband and father who had remained incredibly distant to those close to him ... (probably due to the desperation of the circumstances, and his feeling that he could not be there for them without providing) become so intensely sensitive and present to them, only to face the ironic and inevitable choice he had made to protect them. The plight of these disadvantaged people was immensely painful, yet the joy they got from the simple things was so touching.The scenery, whilst not pretty by any means, only added to the depression and desperation. The soundtrack was perfect in all scenes, and the ending scene was just as it should have been ...Mr Depp ... your talent is boundless ... and you should not shy away from producing, directing and writing - simply because of some who obviously could not see the big picture of this simply understated movie!

I am a cinema maniac and have a DVD collection of nearly 1200 movies besides other 300 VHS, including all the Hollywood Academy Award Winners. My tastes go to Italian, English, French and American films of 1930,40, 50 and 60. But I see and buy films of today even being the distribution here around 90% of American films, the majority very bad, not to mention the real word. I missed THE BRAVE when it passed here in our cinemas and yesterday I noticed by chance that it was to be shown on TV. AS the director was Johnny Depp I decided to see it. I knew J. Depp as an actor only. I enjoyed the film very much. It has substance and so I decided to keep it. However Leonard Maltin's 2008 MOVIE GUIDE does not even mention it. Why ? Why did Johnny Depp not let his film to be released in the U.S. . Can someone please explain ?