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Section 60
Directed by: Jon Alpert & Matthew O'Neill
Starring: Families of the U.S. Armed Forces
Genre:
Documentary
Run Time: 60
min.
Release Date:
October 2008
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser: No
Trailer Available
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
This is a tough review to write. I need to
say up front that I respect our men and women in the military who fight
for freedom across the globe. These brave souls deserve our all, and
seeing the final resting places of those who didn’t make it is humbling
in the extreme.
But if we’re going to be honest about reviewing this documentary, then
we have to do it objectively (i.e., without emotions, and an eye toward
education and informing the general public).
My first big problem is that there’s very little information given on
SECTION 60; about it’s formation, the battle for more space for grave
sites, who oversees the care of the grounds, and how the families of the
deceased view these aspects. Instead, the camera is relegated to
basically being a fly on the wall while families visit the cemetery. We
see families cry, touch headstones, leave trinkets for their dearly
departed, and listen to them mourn. And that is the entirety of the
film. It is also focused almost entirely on those soldiers killed in the
current Middle East conflicts, with nothing noted about the surrounding
soldiers who’ve been there since Vietnam, Korea and beyond.
Another big problem is that there were too many lingering shots of
headstones. Headstones being cleaned. Headstones with the sun setting
behind them. Headstones with jelly beans on them. This might not have
been too bad if the documentarians had included informational dialogue
during a few of them. But the shots are eerily silent, making it seem
more macabre than packing any sort of emotional punch. Too, I found
these overly-long shots (sorry to say) exceptionally boring.
Let’s not forget that these brave men and women died so that we might
live, too. Life is for the living, not the dead. And it is the living
and how they deal with what’s left to them that I would’ve found more
fascinating than this current documentary.
(back to top) |
Image from Section 60
DVD cost: $24.98
Purchase:
Amazon.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
Called "the saddest acre
in America," Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery is a burial
ground for U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, a
place that epitomizes the honor of service and the cost of war.
Movie Quote: "I
hate this."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Section 60
NONE AVAILABLE |
