Hell and Back Again
Docurama | Release Date: October 1, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 13, 2012
Possibly the best war movie of the year. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDuane ByrgeFeb 13, 2012
Danfung Dennis presents a powerful depiction of the horrors and daily violence of our ongoing war in Afghanistan. Read full review
90
VarietyRobert KoehlerFeb 13, 2012
Similar in its battlefield passages to last year's Danish-made "Armadillo," Dennis' film scores a layered perspective that follows Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris into combat and back home. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 22, 2012
In its closing scenes, Hell and Back Again builds to an emotional and stylistic power that we didn't see coming. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisFeb 13, 2012
Dennis's film attempts something few documentaries have: to inhabit the psyche of its subject. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad Derakhshani Feb 13, 2012
A superb, violent, jarring and daring documentary. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderBen SachsFeb 23, 2012
This structure persuasively depicts combat and recovery as two sides of the same struggle, and Dennis strengthens his argument by maintaining a constant perspective throughout: the camera is always within a few feet of the subject. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonFeb 13, 2012
A tough but deeply rewarding watch. Search it out. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 13, 2012
As vital as the best war chronicles to come out in recent years, this is one every American ought to see. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichFeb 13, 2012
Watching the formerly spry Harris struggle to maintain a normal life (he's frequently glassy-eyed and jacked on painkillers) emphasizes the underappreciated sacrifices our men and women in uniform make in the name of vaguely defined ideals. Read full review
80
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerFeb 13, 2012
You can feel just how jarring and stressful it must be for a soldier to go from the life-and-death adrenaline rush of war to the maddeningly slow world of rehabilitation and forced inactivity. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMichelle OrangeFeb 13, 2012
Working alone with a camera and his ingenuity, Dennis captured the surreality of firefights with an invisible enemy and the frustration of displaced civilians. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoFeb 13, 2012
Dennis refuses to push a political agenda down viewers' throats. But the message of his film -- a breathlessly paced look at the realities of war -- is clear: War and its aftermath are indeed hell. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoFeb 13, 2012
The documentary Hell and Back Again may be the closest most civilians ever get to the reality of the war in Afghanistan. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubAlison WillmoreFeb 13, 2012
The film portrays the dizzying divide between war and recovery eloquently enough that those choices seem like intrusions instead of connections, a misstep in what's otherwise a devastating profile of a soldier. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanFeb 13, 2012
The film suggests that it doesn't really matter whether Harris ever gets back in uniform. He's forever carrying around a piece of unexploded ordnance in his head. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineLauren WissotFeb 13, 2012
Unlike most war documentaries, which tend to only skim the surface of its gun-toting subjects' lives, photojournalist Danfung Dennis's Hell and Back Again isn't content to merely capture warriors in combat. Read full review
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