Watch Where Soldiers Come From

Where Soldiers Come From, released in 2011, is a powerful documentary that tells the story of a group of young men from rural Michigan who join the National Guard and are sent to fight in Afghanistan. Through the intimate and emotional story of these soldiers and their families, the film offers a poignant critique of America's wars abroad and the toll they take on individual lives.

The film begins by introducing us to the four main subjects: Dominic, Cole, Bodi, and Matt. They are childhood friends from the small town of Hancock, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and have grown up together hunting, fishing, and snowmobiling. When they graduate from high school, they feel uncertain about what to do with their lives and decide to join the National Guard. They see it as a way to get out of town, earn some money, and gain valuable skills.

As they undergo basic training, they start to realize the gravity of their decision. They are training to become soldiers, to kill and be killed. It's a far cry from their small-town lives, and the film does a great job of showing how the experience shapes them. They become more disciplined, more confident, more mature. But they also become more aware of the dangers they will face overseas, and the toll it will take on their families.

When the soldiers are deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, the film shifts to focus on their families back home. We see their parents, siblings, and girlfriends struggling to cope with the absence of their loved ones, the uncertainty of the war, and the fear of injury or death. The filmmakers do a great job of capturing the emotional complexities of these relationships. We see the worry, the pride, the frustration, the hope. We see the toll that the war takes on the soldiers and their families alike.

As the soldiers spend a year in Afghanistan, the film follows their experiences on the front lines. We see the harsh reality of war, the danger and the boredom, the camaraderie and the fear. We see the soldiers struggle to reconcile their duty as soldiers with their own moral codes. We see the toll that the war takes on their mental health, as they grapple with PTSD and depression.

When the soldiers return home, the film shifts again to focus on their readjustment to civilian life. We see the challenges they face in trying to resume their old lives, and the difficulty of reconciling their experiences in war with the values and expectations of their small-town community. We see the long-term effects of the war on their mental health, relationships, and sense of self.

Throughout the film, the filmmakers use a variety of visual techniques to convey the soldiers' experiences. There are beautiful shots of the Upper Peninsula's natural landscape, which give a sense of the soldiers' attachment to their home. There are grainy, handheld shots of the soldiers in Afghanistan, which convey the chaos and immediacy of war. And there are intimate, candid shots of the soldiers and their families, which convey the emotional complexity of their relationships.

Overall, Where Soldiers Come From is a powerful and poignant documentary that offers a unique perspective on America's wars abroad. By focusing on the experiences of a small group of soldiers and their families, it demonstrates the human cost of war, and the toll it takes on individual lives. It's a film that will leave you with a greater appreciation of the sacrifices made by those who serve in the military, and a greater understanding of the complexity of war and its effects on society.

Where Soldiers Come From is a 2011 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 33 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.0 and a MetaScore of 58.