Hell and Back Again

Director: Danfung Dennis
Theatrical Release Date: October 5, 2011 3:16 AM
Awards: 2012 Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature
Criticwire: A

Synopsis: In 2009, U.S. Marines launched a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Immediately upon landing, the marines were surrounded by insurgents and attacked from all sides. Embedded in Echo Company, filmmaker Danfung Dennis captures the action with visceral immediacy. As he reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris, Dennis’s film evolves from being a war exposé to becoming a story of one man’s personal apocalypse. From the bloody battlefields of Afghanistan, to his home in North Carolina, Harris struggles to conquer the physical and mental fallout of war. A shell of the man he once was, will Harris ever return to the happy life he shared with his loving wife, Ashley? Contrasting the horrors of the battlefield with the battle back home, "Hell and Back Again" is a transcendent film that comes full circle as it lays bare the true cost of war. [Synopsis courtesy of Sundance Institute]

Round-up: he

Reviews

REVIEW | Documentary "Hell and Back Again" is the Best War Movie of the Year

There have been plenty of combat documentaries over the last 10 years, but photojournalist Danfung Dennis' "Hell and Back Again" adopts an original conceit. Dennis follows Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris, a gruff 25-year-old who was stationed in Afghanistan, during two seminal moments in his life. During ...
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News

Sundance-winning "Hell and Back Again" Finds Home at New Video

Danfung Dennis' Sundance Film Festival award-winning war doc "Hell and Back Again," has been acquired by New Video for North American distribution. The feature debut from Dennis chronicles the life of an injured Marine returning home from Afghanistan to his wife and everyday life. The company plans ...
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Interviews

INTERVIEW | "Hell and Back Again" Director Danfung Dennis on Capturing War and All That Comes After

Award-winning war photographer Danfung Dennis had no intention of making a film when he embedded himself with troops in Afghanistan in 2009. Accredited as a New York Times photographer, Dennis dropped down in the war zone with body armor, a backpack and a camera to capture the battle from the front ...
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4 Comments

| Reply
Virginia | January 24, 2012 9:20 PMReply

My son, Philip, was a there as a corpsman. We want to watch this film with him in hopes of helping him deal with the horrors he saw.
Carmichael R | October 7, 2011 2:13 AMReply

After some good amount of digging I am very happy to say that of all the dates that this film is premiering at. Two of the 3 main hubs that I have been involved in... Are showing this film. Winnipeg and Calgary. I will watch intently. Good luck once again on the tour run. I have a feeling this will do well.
carmikerdreid@gmail.com | October 6, 2011 6:42 AMReply

It's great to hear from the no buy trend at TIFF, that a ballsy, new distributing company picked this up. All the best to New Video and their new baby. Hopefully it does well VOD and Streaming Outlets. How this will compare to Restrepo. I don't know. I am in Canada. So I won't be seeing Hell and Back for awhile or will I? When will this be considered for foreign release? I guess that depends on reception in the next few months... Once again Good Luck!
Mark Savage | October 4, 2011 5:50 AMReply

Amazing movie. I concur with this review.