| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
A- |
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A tremendously useful movie!
by Michelle (movies profile)
Apr 24, 2008
26
of
34 people found this review helpful
The trailer left me expecting a deeper story, but due to the number of issues being addressed in just under two hours, it was more superficial. It was hugely accurate. It's a great conversation starter!
My husband has been to Iraq, and said that the moment when Brandon describes to Michele in the car what is was like there (all those single words strung together), it was dead on. It's not like a Hawaiian vacation that you can describe in lavish detail without subjecting yourself and others to reliving the horror of it.
The movie attempts to deal with alcoholism, PTSD, domestic abuse, KIA, disabled veterans, transitions from military to civilian life, the military stop-loss policy, and family left behind all at once, and it's really too much for one movie in just two hours. But it is a fantastic overview of what it means to be a military family with a member deployed to Iraq.
What I liked the best about this movie is that it didn't try to make a political statement, and it didn't narrate the story. It took you into the minds of the characters and *showed* you. You got to feel and experience the same things they did. You got to think about what they did. You got to feel their anguish and their conflicted emotions. And for that reason I will recommend this to all our family and friends.
It will help to open the doors of communication with the people we are closest to, but so far away from when it comes to my husband's deployment to Iraq. They don't yet understand, and we haven't tried to explain. We haven't had the words. Until now. This movie gives us the door to healing and connection. |
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