Hell and Back Again

Many documentaries have some sort of bias, whether it be "pro" or "anti" something or other. "To Hell and Back Again" is different in that it will probably expose one's opinions without really having one itself. The documentary follows the life of Sgt Nathan Harris and his wife Ashley who live in a small town in North Carolina. Nathan is a marine who, on his third tour of duty, is wounded in his leg and has to go through extensive and painful therapy. Danfung Dennis cuts between these images and those he took earlier of Nathan leading his platoon in an intense tour in Afghanistan. The contrasts are incredible and help emphasize everything that a marine goes through both abroad and at home. Some images are severe, such as the deaths of an American LCP and an Afghan soldier (both die off screen but you do see their bodies moments after)

The footage of Nathan at home, however, is what may bring out very different responses. He is obviously in extreme pain and has a harder life, yet is still very gung-ho and dreams of a full recovery and return to the front line (which got a gasp of disbelief by some in my theater). He also is very interested in firearms, and there are several shots of him and his pistols which he keeps near his bed and which he trains his wife how to use. She, meanwhile, must deal with the stress of caring for an injured husband while still performing her daily routine. Together, they see people in their community (who are quite positive), the marine doctors (who are hopeful for his recovery), and attend a very sad memorial for recently KIA soldiers at the base.

To anyone who is staunchly pro-military, the footage should be quite uplifting. Nathan is determined to recover (and he does noticeably improve though as of April 2011 is not fully healed) and the support of his community and especially his wife is heartwarming. Those who are not so gung-ho will probably be shocked by the footage. In the Q&A with the director and Ashley after the screening, one woman asked Ashley if she was scared for her life at all (a reference to Nathan's constant gun wielding, which she wasn't). Regardless of your leanings though this is an excellent documentary and should not be missed.

"that does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home? Hell and Back Again is a cinematically revolutionary film that asks and answers these questions with a power and intimacy no previous film about the conflict in Afghanistan has been able to achieve. It is a masterpiece in the cinema of war" well, don't buy these words on its face value. this documentary actually didn't do anything further or deeper than all the other similar documentary films about the wars and battles in this particular theater. lives of the marines were just wasted for no purpose, just like when soviet invaded this country, thought it's a piece of cake but turned out to be a tough sheet that only made the soviet went bankruptcy. there's no answers to those dubious questions about patriotism, humanitarianism, moral values or anything.

what we saw in this film was just a bunch of marines randomly shooting bullets aimlessly to nothing, while casualties added up more and more. then the wounded marine came home to find out that nobody in the u.s.a. gave a sheet to what he and his comrades did in that remote country. he couldn't even find a parking space in the big shopping center. he tried so hard to explain those "why we have to fight against taliban in that raghead country", because even he himself couldn't find an appropriate answer to satisfy himself.

this is a very boring and pointless documentary that didn't tell anything worth watching or understanding. this film is actually the worst one i've ever seen so far. by watching this kind of pointless film only wore out my patriotism thinner and thinner. why only poor kids from the lower income families got the privilege to serve their country, lost their lives, their arms and legs and hopes when they came back from that sheethole and they have to deal with their painful treatments and recoveries alone? now, we are backing out and getting away from that death trap, and all the lives of our wonderful young men we wasted there would only be a faded memory. America is just like the huge parking lot in a shopping center, finding a parking space for your vehicle is the most important mission on a daily basis. war on terror? who cares? patriotism is not just waving a stars-n-stripes flag or put a flag on your imported car or, wrapping a yellow ribbon on the tree in your front yard.

It's so shockingly sad to see the real poorly trained Marines in combat. Just a bunch of YOYOs, screaming their heads off when they were dropped behind the enemy line. All they did was just shooting blindly to somewhere in front of them. They carried so many gears in their backpack that made them very difficult to run in the field. What we heard from the commanding officer was just a bunch big and hollow words, trying so hard to encourage those young Marines to do a good job, but once they were on the ground, heard bullets whizzed around them, all they could do was screaming to each other, hiding from some obstacles and kept shooting blindly to their general random front directions. They have wasted so many bullets to shoot nothing. We were used to be fooled by many movies telling us how cool, how brave and how well-trained the US Marines, how tough they were, how they got even tougher jobs after they did several tours. The overly glorified US Marines stories were just like fictions, fantasies that could only exist in daydreams.

This documentary if on the basis of exposing how terrible the US Marines during combat, it should got 10 stars, because it had vividly shown us how pathetic the Marines were in general. But if you take it from a different patriotic angle, this documentary sucked big time, it did nothing to glorify the US forces, especially the Marines. They have mindlessly wasted their lives wherever they were thrown into. All of them just looked so lame, so timid, so scared, all they could and would do is just shooting blindly to their unknown enemies. What a pathetic documentary since what it showed to us only made us shaking our heads constantly.

Sometimes the power in the imagery of a film alone tells an ambiguous tale that can be taken in many directions by a viewer. With the plethora of documentaries on the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures pushing you this way or that, it was incredibly refreshing to see one that had its intentions somewhere else. Just present the war and its impacts and let the chips fall where they may.

People made a big deal last year about Restrepo showing the intensity of moments in combat. That film, while great, doesn't even touch what young Danfung Dennis achieves here. The up close intimacy of the war moments took the most brazen courage to compile, but the shots are so beautifully constructed you truly can touch the daring and fear of those moments. I have only felt this before in narrative films like The Hurt Locker.

But the footage of the struggle this troubled soldier endures in his recovery from crippling injuries is equally compelling, frightening and heartbreaking. The sewing together of the two worlds presented has a power all its own.

I really believe this amazing young filmmaker, who really gives his all to the art in this film, deserves recognition. It won the documentary jury prize at Sundance. It now has been shortlisted by the Oscars for nomination consideration. These are so deserved.

Three generations of my family have served their country, with members in almost every branch of the United States Armed Forces. While I decided not to follow in the footsteps of aunts, uncles, cousins, or even my parents, my baby brother did. The day after Katrina hit New Orleans he enlisted in the Marine Corp. It was his unit that was filmed for this documentary.

These men are not actors, they are not trying to "play it up" for the camera and any insinuations to the contrary are beyond offensive. These are trained soldiers who sign their lives away to the government for years at a time, some in hopes of earning school funds, and others a career. Their main worries are to do as commanded, and stay alive long enough to be able to reach their end goals. I watched this documentary with my eyes wide open, with the personal knowledge of how these events changed someone I love.

The beauty of Hell and Back Again is that it allows the rest of the world to see what soldiers and their families live with. We send our soldiers off knowing that at best they will be forever psychologically scarred and at worst we receive that dreaded knock on the door. When they do return we have to help them adjust back to their "normal" lives. So even though Sgt. Harris is the focus, this really is the story of every soldier who has been in a combat zone.

I hope that this film helps people understand that even though many have life altering physical injuries, the hardest part for most will be the life-long mental battle. Only through the genius of editing that follows the emotional path rather than the chronological, can we see those highs and lows with such intensity.

In the end I can only repeat what I told my brother after I saw this film. It allowed me to understand him better, not only as a soldier, but as a changed man. And even though he is still a pain in the rear, I am glad that he made it home alive, issues and all.