Former Decatur resident Jake Rademacher has seen true courage through the lens of his video camera.

Though not a soldier, Rademacher has seen up close and experienced a piece of what American soldiers stationed in Iraq have had to endure.

"I was there," Rademacher said, "and (I've) seen them get shot at and run toward the bullets. When you see people up close under fire, you see the valorous they have."

Seeing that strength and bravery, especially from his two brothers in the service, Rademacher only hopes it comes through on film.

"Brothers at War," a documentary directed and produced by Rademacher, gives a personal look of American soldiers' perspective while at war in Iraq.

The film has yet to make it to theaters, but Rademacher said he is currently looking into distribution of the film, with calls from studios and major distributors. He added he hopes to have a Midwest premiere in Decatur.

Rademacher's younger brothers - Capt. Isaac Rademacher, who is stationed in Iraq, and Staff Sgt. Joseph Rademacher, who is in Afghanistan - aided in the reason for their older brother to create the film.

"I wanted to know what's going on in Iraq because I have two brothers over there," Rademacher said in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. "As a filmmaker, I felt I needed to shed light on it, not just for myself, but for people who want to know."

Rademacher, a 1993 St. Teresa High School graduate and a 1997 graduate from Notre Dame, took on the 3½-year project with award-winning producer Norman Powell and ventured to Mosul, Iraq, in 2005 and 2006 to film his journey of being embedded with four combat units. He spent three months in Iraq during two separate trips.

Aside from scenes of Iraq, the film intertwines video footage of comments from the Rademacher family and American and Iraqi soldiers.

"It's about a lot of things," Rademacher said of the film. "The film is about an American family, brotherhood and how families deal with family in the service overseas.

"It's focused on the human experience (of people in the service) on a day-to-day basis."

Dr. Dennis J. Rademacher of Decatur, Jake's father, feels the film portrays all American families with deployed family members in Iraq.

"Most people ask, 'How do you cope with two sons deployed?' Now I can say, 'Wait and watch to see the movie,' " he said with a laugh. "This is representation of what families go through, their sacrifices. I think a lot of the time people are wondering ? how do (the soldiers) feel about what's going on over there. A lot of the stuff (in the film) you don't hear (in the media).

"I think (Jake) did a good job of accomplishing what he set out to accomplish."

Dr. Rademacher said the film brings reassurance to families, as he learned much about his own sons. Even though Isaac has done his five years required in the service, Dr. Rademacher said Isaac continued on with them.

"He feels like what he's doing is important," he said.

Jake Rademacher said, "I'm really appreciative of the feedback I've been receiving, especially when you put your heart into a product like this, it's very rewarding."

But the reward doesn't stop with that feedback.

"I got to know my brothers' soldiers, sitting next to them, the kindness and the camaraderie they share," and to see that up close "blew him away," he said. "Having that experience really opened my eyes to the valor and enormity of what's happening in Iraq.

"This film is the soldiers' story as much as it is mine."

Alicia Spates can be reached at aspates@herald-review.com or 421-6986.