Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

jwv-823-79715 The documentary starts off with a thought provoking contrast. We land in the middle of a deadly Afghan war scene, only to see the marines' family reunion in America shortly after. This contrast suggests the frightful incompatibility of these scenes, and hints at the question of how the marines cope with this.During the story of Nathan back home, our point of view shifts from time to time to the Afghan war scene. These suggest the flashbacks that Nathan experiences.Ironic scenes from Nathan playing Call of Duty confront the viewer with the barbarity it is of reducing war to an enjoyable video game.The strongest moment in the film features one of Obama's speeches touching on the Afghan war. The film suggests the ridiculousness, emptiness and idiocy of Obama's idealized speeches about war, and subtly subverts it when a wounded and indifferent Nathan comments: "Well, Afgan people aren't watching." This film suggests that even physically unharmed marines come home profoundly wounded, be it emotional. Nathan's neurotic and unpredictable behaviour makes us question what injury cuts deeper, the physical or the emotional.

greenmemo What was the Academy thinking? Nominate this and snub The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, Living In The Material World and Project Nim?? I am not even sure this qualifies as a documentary at all. It feels as fake as your average MTV reality show. Some vignettes about the interaction of the US forces and the afghan villagers are revealing enough, but the rest is pure manipulation. There are even moments that may provoke unintended laughs; that is what generally happens when you try to get a "dramatic performance" from non actors. I believe the whole project is a very misguided attempt at portraying the harrowing effects of war in the bodies and psyche of soldiers. It would have been much better as a biopic given the director obvious penchant for giving the facts a little extra boost though cinematic techniques more commonly associated to fiction. I hope the Oscar in this category goes to Paradise Lost: Purgatory or even to Pina.

rightwingisevil "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.

AMichaelL This is one of the most amazing documentaries I have ever seen. The imagery is stunning, and the filming is pristine - especially considering the conditions - the camera and editing are high quality, and the shakiness is pretty subdued.Most importantly, the stories are interesting and all too real. The editing, which juxtaposes the return of the wounded Nathan Harris to America with the striking images of war is chilling. There is simply no other film which actually shows what it might be like to actually have PTSD. The soldiers in this documentary are all too real, never joking with the camera while in combat, and coming close to death numerous times. If you want proof, look closely, despite the presence of the camera, few soldiers ever look into it. This may have been a directorial call, but more than likely, it is because they are real soldiers, and one second looking at a camera - especially in such hostile territory - could cost you your life.This movie is something special, and I doubt we will see anything like it again. Honestly - props to this filmmaker Dennis - because he has some serious guts/grit.