Where Soldiers Come From

When assigned to watch a documentary to study its storytelling elements, I asked a film student friend of mine for a few recommendations. I knew she would recommend a movie that was great from a film perspective as well as told a moving story. I was not let down.

Where Soldiers Come From is a tale of a few young men from Upper Peninsula, Michigan who decide to join the National Guard together and get deployed to Afghanistan. They serve essentially as minesweepers, checking roads in high risk areas for Improvised Explosive Devices and clearing the roads for the soldiers behind them.

Watching the movie was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. There were a few laughs and a lot of tears. The filmmakers did an excellent job of evoking strong emotions from viewers through a variety of story elements.

The plot intertwined the stories of all of the young men, including their families and their other relationships. The best part of the plot was that the climax was not when you think it was. I expected the boys' deployment to be the climax and the movie to end with their return. Instead, their return to the U.S. was the climax of the film and the ending included a lot of their struggle with reintegration into normal society after war. This was like an extra loop on the emotional roller coaster and brought out even more emotional responses from me.

The character development throughout the film was also a huge factor in my emotional responses. One story in particular hit me hard. The most quiet and most reserved of all the main characters went through a huge transformation from the beginning of the film to the end. War truly changed him from a slightly introverted boy into an emotionally hardened man. He also had the most medical repercussions from the IEDs explosions. His story was really depressing because of his major transformation.

Another juxtaposition in the movie was in the setting. There were many direct screen cuts between the snowy or waterfront scenes in Michigan to sweltering desert scenes in Afghanistan. It really drove home the point that these young men were going through a major life change and atmosphere adjustment.

All of these elements coming together is what drew me in to the story. I wasn't expecting to laugh wholeheartedly or sob uncontrollably at a story of a few young men going to Afghanistan, but I did. The fact that this movie could control my emotions so distinctly is what made it great. The lesson I will take from this film and apply to my presentations is to take people on an emotional trip, to appeal to their humanity to evoke feeling. I don't want to make anyone start cackling or bawling during a presentation, but if they giggle or shed just one quiet tear, my job would be done.