Motivated by a variety of reasons from college tuition support, to a sense of purpose, best friends Dominic and Cole join the Army National Guard after graduating from their rural high school. After persuading several of their friends to join them, the young men are sent to Afghanistan as part of the 107th Engineer Battalion, 168th Engineer Brigade, where they are tasked with searching for roadside bombs in order to keep roads safe for other troops. By the time their deployment ends, they are no longer the carefree group of friends they were before enlisting; repeated bombs blasts around their convoys have led to TBI symptoms, and they have become increasingly disillusioned about their mission. Coming home is no relief as they are now confronted with the silent war wounds of PTSD and TBI. The soldiers struggle with reintegration with society and some miss the simplicity in life they had while in Afghanistan. The latter half of the documentary focuses on their struggles on the home front and how each of them, and their families try to return to normal life.
Reception
The film received almost universal critical acclaim following both its theatrical release and its national broadcast on the award-winning PBS series POV. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called it "quietly devastating" and said, "in its compassionate, modest gaze, the real cost of distant political decisions is softly illuminated, as well as the shame of a country with little to offer its less fortunate young people than a ticket to a battlefield.” Hank Stuever of The Washington Post stated that it was "hauntingly beautiful and deeply felt...some of the best Afghanistan war-related storytelling I’ve seen.” In his review of the film, Time's film critic Steven James Snyder called it an "emotional and engrossing portrait of America's bravest." Matt Zoller Seitz of Salon claimed that "the last 10 years have produced an array of documentaries about post-9/11 America, but few are as haunting and compassionate as Heather Courtney’s ‘Where Soldiers Come From.’” Salon also included the film in their list of "the best nonfiction TV of 2011." Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore said the film was "a profoundly moving experience. One of the best movies I have seen this year." As of May 2013, the film had an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not all reviewers gave the film positive reviews. Lauren Wissot of Slant Magazine criticized the film for being "too unsurprising in its universality" also saying it felt like left-wing propaganda. Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times criticized the film's lack of focus, stating that "despite the film's unvarnished emotionality and even-handed messaging, Courtney never seems to have found an appropriate focus, resulting in a work that's less urgent and involving than its intense subject matter might have dictated." Goldstein also noted that the soldiers featured in the film were depicted as lacking "charisma, warmth, or depth," which hampered investment in their journey.
Distribution
The film had a small theatrical release in Fall 2011, as well as a national broadcast premiere on the PBS series POV in November 2011 and an encore broadcast in September 2012. It is also available through the digital distributor New Video on many digital platforms including iTunes and Netflix, and available for educational distribution at New Day Films.
