When Nathan Harris was a teenager, he says, "What I wanted to do was kill people." He enlisted in the Marines. He doesn't actually say if he has killed anyone or not, but the director, Danfung Dennis, who was embedded with Harris' Echo Company, followed him in action, and we see that he has grown into a natural leader of men. Some of the film's most involving scenes show him debating village elders (through an interpreter) about the role of America in Afghanistan; he sincerely believes he is helping to bring them freedom, and finds it hard to answer their statements that they want to be left alone by both the Americans and the Taliban.
The film follows Harris home, through an agonizing period of rehab and shows that his life will never be the same. Memories of battle haunt him, and "Hell and Back Again" intercuts actual sights and scenes from Afghanistan with scenes back home in North Carolina. He doesn't have post-traumatic stress syndrome. He dreams of returning to action, and it is hard for him to accept that it may not happen.
"Act of Valor" is gift-wrapped in patriotism. It was once intended as a recruitment film, and that's how it plays. The action scenes are harrowing but exciting. Lots of explosions and special effects. At the end, there is a full-dress military funeral, honoring three generations of warriors. The real action scenes in "Hell and Back Again" don't play like an action movie. I don't recall seeing a single Taliban fighter. One of Sgt. Harris' men is killed on the first day in the field. Harris is wounded late in his tour. Nobody saw either one of the snipers.
I have a feeling that the teenage Nathan Harris, who wanted to kill people, would have loved "Act of Valor." But "Hell and Back Again," in describing his life today, doesn't play like a recruitment film. A great deal is made by the directors McCoy and Waugh that actual live ammunition was used in the making of their film. Actual live ammunition was also used in "Hell and Back Again." If you asked Sgt. Nathan Harris what he thought about using live ammo in a Hollywood action movie, what do you suppose he would say? My best guess is, he would say they were damned fools.
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