Review of Hell and Back Again (2011) by Sweety H — 26 Jan 2012

One of five documentaries nominated for an Oscar in 2012. Having not seen any of the others, I'm hoping this will be in the bottom two. If not, it will be a pretty weak field. My 6/10 rating is not far off the mark as the documentary is rated at 6.2 on imdb.

I thought the film would be full of raw footage from Afganistan, and apply that to the story of a young man suffering from PTSD. Instead, there is some raw footage, bu there is also a man suffering from what might best be described as low IQ. This is what frustrates me about the whole glorification of the American war machine. This guy admits that when he was 18 all he wanted to do was kill people. He finds the one job on the planet that allows for that, eventually gets shot, then comes home basically the same guy. The filmmakers spliced war footage with certain moments in the film to make it seem like the soldier can never get it out of his head. While I'm sure this is true to some degree, it doesn't ring true with this particular guy and comes off as manipulative.

To the film's credit, there is no real narration. Some of the war footage is raw and there is definitely no explanation of anything. It is what it is. Most of the post-war stuff is the same, albeit with a little talking by the soldier and his wife. In that sense, it is basically a true documentary: it documented something as is and makes no editorial point. But let's make sure there is a point to all of the footage before we try to make a story out of it.

So my biggest complaint is the soldier. Why did he want to kill people even before the war? Why did that girl "fall in love" with him? Was his character after his injury more influenced by his personality before the war, or the events in the war? In same cases, this is very clear cut. In this case, I'm not so sure that is the case. I think he whole PTSD slant is called into question because this guy might just be a little off.