Operation Homecoming

dir. Richard Robbins, 2007, 78 min.
Saturday, Mar. 3, 8pm; Forrest Theater
In person: director Richard Robbins
Starting its life as an anthology of stories, letters and poems written by soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan for an NEA program, this could easily have been a gassy paean to sacrifice and honor. But Operation Homecoming's impact approaches the multilayered war literature of veterans/novelists Tim O'Brien, Anthony Swofford and Tobias Wolff, all of whom feature in the film. Memorable sequences abound: a terrifying journey manning a Bradley vehicle through an ambush, a touching journey of a fallen private taken back to his ghostly hometown, a comic bit about the excruciating grind of tent life. Operation employs a rich visual palette that changes from passage to passage, and it's aided by a voice cast of celebrity narrators — Robert Duvall, Aaron Eckhart, and Blair Underwood, among others. Operation Homecoming is a wrenching you-are-there experience, exposing us to the full range of feelings experienced by those on the battlefield. (PS)