We learn first that Moss has been shell-shocked from the mission and has been rendered paralyzed, and then circle back to the mission’s recruitment-which includes some troubling casual racism lobbied at the engineer recruit by the very men he’s agreed to help out-but why? Other flashbacks, such as Bridges and Edwards building camaraderie while playing on the same basketball team in college, are narratively important, but its main circular structure doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially when it relies on Moss’ army shrink to shoehorn in bizarre pseudo-science exposition for what amounts to the film’s big emotional payoff.
The film-written by High Noon-scribe Carl Foreman, produced by Stanley Kramer, and adapted from a play by Arthur Laurents-is fashioned using a sometimes-clumsy flashback structure, convoluting itself when a simply told narrative would have sufficed.
To downplay the film’s commendable representation of racial turmoil-not to mention two fine performances from Edwards and Bridges-would be foolish, but at a certain point the cinematic merits of the film must be called into question, and unfortunately Home of the Brave doesn’t offer much else. But while watching it in a modern context one can’t help but admit that the film tends to seem like a mere artifact of its own time, one whose overall impact may be unfortunately weakened because of the extraordinary strides our country has taken to turn the ugly tides of racism since its release. Actor James Edwards plays Moss, a sensitive but intelligent African-American military engineer who joins up with a recon squad made up entirely of white men (one of whom is his college buddy Finch, played by Lloyd Bridges) who must go on a mission to survey a small island held by a small outfit of Japanese forces during the War, but soon racial tension between the men boils over, calling into question Moss’ ideas of loyalty and courage during wartime.įor the most part the film delivers on its promise of portraying an unwavering look at the unspoken-and sometimes institutionalized-racism that pervaded American culture even when we were fighting a war to combat the very notions that breed racism itself.
1949’s Home of the Brave-recently restored and released on Blu-ray by Olive Films-purports to be the first motion picture of its kind to address racism in the military, specifically during World War II.
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