These cowboy filmmakers milked every cow to the last drop in terms of resources. The film felt more like a true story than fiction which truly proves the importance of the universal human conditions portrayed in the film. With a great script, acting, and true to life locations, the story really resonates. About 2/3rds of the way through I literally said out loud "I can't wait to watch this again!" The cinematography was impressive, fans of Terrance Mallick (Tree Of Life, A Hidden Life, Thin Red Line) will appreciate the camerawork throughout the film that conveys the true beauty of life throughout the film. An instant classic for the audience it finds. Watched the night of its premiere on Pure Flix.

I was tempted to give this film a score of 1 but the location photography is lovely and it attempts to address some important issues of war and our deeply held values so I brought it up to a 4 in acknowledgment of these strengths (and the touching ending).

Maria Martinez' character is narcissistic, spoilt, sanctimonious and unbelievably poisonous. She hits the male lead which is completely unacceptable in the circumstances and treats him like a doll she can play with and torture. Why he comes back for more is far beyond me.....

But that is just the surface of my disgust...... to insinuate that ANY soldier, let alone special ops, would be so stupid as to go out and bring explosives in to kill all the men he is in charge of protecting is plain insulting to every soldier everywhere - NO ONE is that stupid or 'holier than thou' and to insinuate the families of the dead men would call that heroism is plain crazy...... I was sickened by this story.....