{"id":25158,"date":"2017-04-30T15:32:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T19:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=25158"},"modified":"2017-04-30T15:33:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-30T19:33:35","slug":"island-soldier-2017-hot-docs-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/30\/island-soldier-2017-hot-docs-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Island Soldier (2017) [Hot Docs 2017]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Micronesians are a big part of the US military forces but get very little in terms of recognition or assurance that they will be taken care of if and when things take a bad turn.\u00a0 Here the Nena family is followed through their sons\u2019 and their struggles and joy with the process of them joining the American military, going abroad, training, going into service, et al.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Director Nathan Fitch follows the family and their loved ones as they go through this as well as shows the history that has led to many Micronesians going into service for the United States Army.\u00a0 He shows their emotions and feelings through letting them express themselves and tell their stories with little directions or input.\u00a0 The film grabs the viewer by being a direct and raw while avoiding to fall into exploitative drivel meant to bring tears to eyes.\u00a0 The story shown is real, it\u2019s impressive, and it\u2019s personal.\u00a0 The film brings the viewer into this family\u2019s life, making them feel like you have known them for a long time, like they are family to them.\u00a0 It\u2019s makes the viewer care by not forcing them to, by letting them make their own opinions.<\/p>\n

The film achieves this by keeping things simple with a simple look and music that fits without over powering the story being told.\u00a0 The cinematography by director Fitch, with additional cinematography by Bryan Chang who also edited, brings forth the beauty of Micronesia and creates images that grab the viewer while the story and what is being told keeps the viewer\u2019s attention.\u00a0 The way their images are edited, weaving shots of the islands and their beauty with the interview or monologue style sequences which creates an almost dreamlike feel to parts of the film when they are talking about happy things.\u00a0 When things are less happy, they still have an ease of watching which seems impossible but the style in which they are shot takes care of that.\u00a0 This documentary could easily have fallen into the sad story or saccharine, but it avoids this by concentrating on the human element, but showing the people going through their lives, their hopes, their dreams.<\/p>\n

These images are accompanied by music by Bing & Ruth and additional music by Dan Teicher and Max Avery Lichtenstein which adds an island sound to the film and helps guide the viewer through the emotions and feelings.\u00a0 The music is beautiful and island-y (if that is a word), while it\u2019s not too much or tacky.\u00a0 It may seem stereotypical, but it good and it fits with the subject and helps keep a potentially heavy documentary more watchable.\u00a0 As is oftentimes the case, the music helps set the tone and helps create something that the viewer will keep on watching.<\/p>\n

Island Soldier is the type of documentary that many need to see as it has an important history lesson wrapped in humanity.\u00a0 The way it goes about things works to get the viewer interested and keep their interest.\u00a0 The Nena family is interesting and feels like many families most of us have met.\u00a0 Their story is important as it is but one of many for the men and women in the service who need more support than they are getting and to help people understand parts of the system and its history that is unknown to more than it should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Micronesians are a big part of the US military forces but get very little in terms of recognition or assurance that they will be taken care of if and when things take a bad turn.\u00a0 Here the Nena family is followed through their sons\u2019 and their struggles and joy with the process of them joining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[292,501,1173],"class_list":["post-25158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-documentary","tag-indie-film","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25160,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25158\/revisions\/25160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}