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I recently watched "Make Peace or Die." First, I'm very surprised that I'm the first to leave a user review. As a nation still grappling with its most recent wars on the big-picture, foreign policy level, this documentary narrows in one unit. It recounts the lives of 17 Marines of the 1st Battalion 5th Marines killed over the summer of 2011. This is an in-your-face, unflinching look at the results of war from the most personal level--the surviving families. One of the battalion's Marines Anthony Marquez carved a beautiful, life-size battlefield cross for each of the families. Now, 10 years after those 17 deaths, Marquez revisits each family. The gut-punch of each visit is palatable. The families' pain is as raw 10 years later as it was the day Marine Casualty Officers delivered the terrible news. Later in the doc, there is an additional shock that is unbelievably moving. I'm not revealing it. I encourage everyone-especially those who do NOT have family serving in the military-to understand what the depth of that service means. This is a beautifully done doc that handles a lot of issues within its short 90 minutes. You won't regret watching it. It'll stay with you a long time.

This documnetary gives a solid description of life aboard an American submarine during WW2. And it takes us through the history of one of the 52 submarines that was sunk during the war. From its construction in Wisconsin to its sinking by depth charge in the Gulf of Thailand, we witness the life, death and rediscovery of the USS Lagarto. The doc includes animated graphics to give you a better idea of happened. When one submariner describes what it's like to be under a depth charge attack, it's just chilling. Anyone interested in naval history or more broadly, the sacrifices made by so many whose names are lost to history, this one-hour doc is well worth your time.

I caught this 1-hour documentary on PBS. Well worth it! Anyone interested in capturing surfers from the water will want to see what's involved. The doc aptly points out the hazards of trying to capture that "peak moment" of a surfer inside a wave. While most photographers will stay on the beach and use long lenses to capture the action, that doesn't come close to what you can do when you're inches away from a surfer inside the tube. Even if you aren't a photographer but enjoy the sport of surfing, you'll enjoy this inside look of how some incredible moments are captured. Finally, the doc gets a bit into the business of water photography and that the Internet and social media has completely changed the business model. But the bottom line is, these shooters never did it for the money anyway!