What Gordy Brewer knows best is how to be a good dad and a good husband. It's obvious in the way his son, Mafl, adores him and the way he and his wife share the affectionate rapport of best friends. Gordy's job as a Los Angeles Fire Department captain means he often finds himself in situations where he must comfort frightened and injured people whose lives are in danger. What these people remember afterwards is not so much the firefighter's strength, but his gentle and sincere concern.
When it comes to matters of international politics and terrorism, Gordy is clearly out of his depth. Following the death of his wife and son in a terrorist bombing he is inclined to take the advice of CIA operative Brandt, who sends him home with the reassurance that "we'll find this guy."
But, as weeks drag on and the experts remain empty-handed, Gordy becomes increasingly impatient. As he continues to check on the status of the case he is repeatedly advised to try and get on with his life. It becomes clear to Gordy that if he wants to bring this killer to justice, he'll have to take matters into his own hands.
He arrives in Colombia with only his passport and some cash, the bare beginnings of a plan and a single-minded determination to find the man responsible for killing his family. As he progresses from one checkpoint to another, going deeper into the guerilla zone, Gordy is confronted with the harsh realities of civil war for the first time. He witnesses brutality and fear as a way of life. He makes only brief personal contact with people on the road through gestures and glances, most of them wary of his presence. As he struggles to track down The Wolf, he also struggles to make sense of it all.
"Gordy is an everyman," says producer Steven Reuther. "As such, he takes into the jungle not only his own innocence but our own. We see through his eyes the things he's seeing for the first time and maybe ask some of the same questions he's asking.
"Since September 11th," Reuther continues, "'Collateral Damage' has become a term that we've all had to digest. The journey that Gordon Brewer takes in this film has become more understandable for everyone."
The character Gordy also reflects strong feelings stirred in producer David Foster as far back as 1988 when viewing a "Nightline" special about the TWA flight brought down by terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 innocent people — feelings that are just as relevant today.
"As I watched their loved ones arrive in Lockerbie," Foster recalls, "I was devastated. I put myself in the position of the survivors and considered how their lives would be forever changed. How would I personally respond in such a situation? That's what originally hooked me on this story several years ago — it brings these questions into sharp focus."
The people with whom Gordy interacts on his journey are, like him, driven by their own personal histories. On the run in a remote village Gordy meets a young mother, Selena, and her adopted son Mauro. two figures who cause him to reflect on his own lost wife and son. Selena came to South America in her youth, fell in love with a Colombian and adopted the country - and its troubles - as her own.
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