Blu-Ray Review: Home Of The Brave

By Brad Henderson

One of my goals in life is to watch every single film in existence. That isn’t a realistic goal but I would love to think I could achieve it someday. There are many films out there that I’ve never heard of and that is why I love companies like Olive Films. They release things that are popular amongst a certain fan base but that fan base is usually an older audience. The films they release please their existing audience as well as people like me because I get to see films I would probably never seek out because they are hard to find or just not in existence anymore.

Olive Films has recently released a film called Home of the Brave that is semi-racially charged but also has another meaning to it. Olive Films has done some great releases through the history of their existence and they have quite the catalogue. The special features on their releases are lacking, but they are way more focused on film preservation. I’m okay with that. Also, most of their releases probably wouldn’t have all that much to include as special features since most of the actors and directors have passed on or they are just completely out of the business. Yeah, in case you are wondering, they release some really old flicks.

Home of the Brave is a straight character piece and not a war film as it is presented. Some survivors of a top-secret mission in World War II are mapping out a certain island to plan a counter attack on Japan. A small team of fighters, each possessing a special skill, is hired to complete this mission. It is completely voluntary and very dangerous and everyone is scared to do it aside from Moss, the lead African American character around whom our story revolves. The other members of the team are hesitant about bringing him on board because of his race. One member of the group named Finch knew Moss back in high school and trusts him. Finch is first to volunteer alongside Moss and the rest follow.

Our story starts after this mission because only a few of them returned and Moss is completely out of it and can’t walk. Something happened on that island and the doctor who is monitoring Moss is determined to find out.

Home of the Brave is fantastic. I can’t word that sentence any other way. This film has been resurrected from its grave and should be seen. I know civil rights films are in abundance. I even pass over some of them. They are hard to watch and I get tired of seeing all the racism being depicted. I know this was an important time in our history but I don’t care to watch too many films on the subject.

So why am I recommending Home of the Brave? Because it is something unique that takes the subject of racism down a different route. That makes its message more special. Home of the Brave is an important film that needs to be seen by a wider audience.

Home of the Brave was released on Blu-Ray through Olive Films on May 13.