By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Justin Roberts
Country: united_states
Year: 2017
Running time: 94
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4687782/reference
Lorraine says: “NO GREATER LOVE is ending a festival run but will be making a theatrical run and I want to put it on your radar.
“It played in the Beaufort Film Festival. I missed the screening but met the director, his wife, and tiny daughter. I also met several of the men from the No Slack Battalion. Everyone that saw the film was very moved. The film has been winning Best Doc and many other awards. In Beaufort, Justin Roberts was awarded the Santini Patriot Spirit Award.
“I saw it was playing in Nashville so made sure I had a ticket. Spent a little more time with director Justin Roberts and family. Nashville is close to where a number of the No Slack folks are stationed now so the audience had a good number in attendance. I sat next to the Colonel who is their commanding officer and interviewed in the film.
“The film is about their deployment but more importantly about their journey home. What they face. How difficult this transition can be for many. This film, I think, allows the kind of insight that film can — we are thrust into life with these soldiers on the front lines.
“This story transcends politics. One doesn’t need to know what put these soldiers in Afghanistan. And the film doesn’t take on the politics surrounding the deployment — that isn’t the story and isn’t the point. The journey home, how they navigate that journey — how someone who wants to might help.
“The film is solidly made. We get to know soldiers, the Army Chaplain, the commanding officers. This isn’t a doc that breaks form or seeks to reinvent what a doc is or does, and that would be a mistake. Form serves story and the story is important and powerful.
“NO GREATER LOVE tells the story of Capt. (Chaplain) Justin Roberts’ deployment to Afghanistan in 2010-2011 with the ‘No Slack’ Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. U.S. Army chaplains do not carry weapons. Instead, Roberts carried a camera and documented hardships that his soldiers endured. The 800-man battalion came home with more than 200 purple hearts, and 18 were killed in action. Upon return, Roberts and his associates embarked on a journey around the U.S. to speak with the soldiers and rally the unit together to heal old wounds. Roberts’ combat footage is layered with honest, gritty, heartfelt interviews with the soldiers of ‘No Slack’ and the families of the fallen. This footage was shot in combat in Kunar Province, Afghanistan 2010-2011. The film is directed by an active duty soldier, and it is told by the men he served in their own words. The men discuss what it was like to serve in Afghanistan, and what it’s like returning to civilian life after combat. ‘This film is about what we fought for…’ said Sgt. Bob Evans, a ‘No Slack’ Infantryman and NO GREATER LOVE production assistant.”