Hell and Back Again

After the Oscar nominations are announced, I like to see all the nominated pictures that I haven't seen yet (although I'll skip the Transformers). In the Best Documentary Feature category, I hadn't seen any of the nominees, so I start with Hell and Back Again, directed by Danfung Dennis. I haven't seen any of the other films that may have been "snubbed," but I am mystified why this did get nominated.

There have been many films about the problems that combat soldiers have had readjusting to American life, from The Best Years of Our Lives to Coming Home to The Hurt Locker. This one focuses on a marine, Nathan Harris, who has returned home after being severely wounded (as far as I could tell, his hometown or even state is never identified, but by the accents I guess it was the South). There is no voiceover narration or talking head footage--it's all observation, from Harris in Afghanistan to his rehabilitation at home.

I don't mean to pick on Harris, who I thank for his service, but he's not especially compelling. In fact, the only time he comes to some kind of vividness is when he's playing with his guns. If this were a narrative film, following Chekhov's rule, Harris would have shot himself or someone else; instead we look on alarmed as he mimics Russian roulette, while his wife watches, smiling.

His wife, Ashley, is another problem with the movie. She's seen only as an appendage, dutifully helping him. I would have liked to know more about her, but we only her voice an opinion once in the movie, when Harris isn't there, to a pharmacist, describing his rage.

The scenes in Afghanistan, in which Dennis appears to be embedded with Harris' company, bullets whizzing around, are not particularly great, either--we've seen this before. Most of the action in Afghanistan consists of American soldiers negotiating with locals over their losses, and Harris doesn't even take part. I am at a loss to explain how these scenes have anything to do with Harris back in the U.S.A.

I do appreciate the plight Harris is in. Editor Fiona Otway makes some indelible cuts, such as going from marines working their way through a village, guns poised, to the recreation of that in the video game Call of Duty, which Harris plays at home. Harris, frustrated at a lack of parking spaces at Wal-Mart, wishes aloud that he was back in the desert, where he says things were simpler. Me--I'd rather deal with a lack of parking than getting shot at, but it's a testament to the psychological damage these guys go through that he would even voice such a thing. Harris, recovering from a gunshot to the hip which will likely leave him with a permanent limp, wants to return to action.