The Definitive Documentary On The Documentation Of Modern Warfare
The glaring sunshine makes the beautiful opening shots of US Marines Echo company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, stand out with such bare faced clarity, that it serves as a perfect signpost to ‘Hell and Back Again’ a diamond hard, uncompromising, truthful, ground floor narrative of the Afghanistan conflict.
Yet as, ‘Hell and Back Again’, picks up and follows the story of one soldier, ‘Sergeant Nathan Harris’ it is the poignant, human element that makes this hard hitting piece of film making so fascinating, and provides an unique perspective on what it really must be like, to be a Marine in Afghanistan.
Dropped behind enemy lines, cut off and surrounded, Harris’s company battles the hit and run, ghostlike sniper tactics of the Taliban, and attempts to deal with the ignorance and passive hostility from the very villagers they hope to liberate. But when Harris is badly shot during a prolonged skirmish, he is transferred back to convalesce at home in North Carolina with the support of his wife and childhood sweetheart, Ashley. It is here that the story becomes it’s most shocking. ‘Hell and Back Again’, really is about one man’s struggle to rehabilitate into normal life, kick the painkiller addiction he gained as his terrible wounds healed, and come to terms with the reality of death and war.
Thanks to the amazing, groundbreaking work of award winning photo/camera journalist and director, Danfung Dennis, the brutal truth of modern warfare is now laid out in shocking clarity. A photographer in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2006, Dennis was uniquely placed to take the innovative step of turning the live footage collected in both North Carolina and Afghanistan into a narrative. ‘Hell and Back Again’, is about a real character, a real soldier, whose naturalness and humanity speaks with far more eloquence and power about the true nature of the modern soldier, than any straight drama, or straight documentary ever could.
Brought into Nathan’s life by chance, when Harris gave Dennis a bottle of water, Dennis decided to follow this one soldier’s story. And for his part, Harris has been candid, and completely natural in front of the camera which became part of his life for so many months. And what great shots Dennis collected. Edited by the academy award nominee, Fiona Otway, ‘Hell and Back Again’ has gained Dennis a well deserved double award at Sundance Film Festival 2011, for the ‘World Cinema Grand Jury Award, Documentary’, and the ‘World Cinematography Award'.
‘Hell and Back Again’, is beautifully shot and edited from start to finish, and made with care and passion for the subject matter. However, this is a film that belongs to its soldier, Nathan Harris, and to his wife Ashley, whose emotive comment ended up so unintentionally, but aptly, as the title of the film.
Unmissable - 5 Stars
Jane Foster
janecreates@yahoo.co.uk