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In all, 59 Purple Hearts were awarded to Lima Marines, 23 of them posthumously.

Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company – Variety

And you probably saw the smoking aftermath of the amphibious assault vehicle that hit a roadside explosive so massive that the ton vehicle flipped onto its back and all 11 Lima Company leathernecks inside were killed. In one scene, a camera follows Stephanie Derga to a bar in the Columbus area. Dustin Derga, 24, was killed May 8, , shot in the back with an armor-piercing round during Operation Matador on the Iraq-Syria border. At the start of the documentary, Lance Cpl. They cite the improved Iraqi turnout between the two elections that bracketed their seven-month deployment, noting that the rise in participation is thanks, at least in part, to their efforts during that long summer.

But it does provide a stark, honest and gripping portrait of idealism tempered by the pain of brothers lost in war. Getting it from the hroses mouth Every so often, however, we tune into a show that makes us cry. Regardless of one's feelings about the war, this is an intimate look at Marines as they talk candidly about their fallen comrades.

The Marines of Lima Company, a reserve unit from Columbus, Ohio had more men killed than any other division. From February through September of last year, 59 of the unit's men received Purple Hearts; 23 were awarded posthumously. Marines recorded one another during down times doing dumb things, like trying to eat 15 mini pizzas. The film jump-starts when they take their video cameras into war.

Though blood is not shown, parents should be warned that curses slip in; these are Marines under fire, and if cursing were ever not gratuitous, this is it. What makes this so different from the nightly news is that we get to know the men, especially those who died. Young widow Laura Youngblood, who was pregnant with a daughter and had a 5-year-old son when her husband, Travis, was killed, says, "Travis was one of those guys no one could not like.

If they ever do a movie, Drew Carey would play him. The men are philosophical, and very open. This isn't for the youngest in the house, but anyone old enough to think about the war will benefit from it. Window opens on Marines' thoughts "Combat Diary" visits Lima Company in Iraq and afterward, seeing their best and worst.

Phillip Jolly, in the masterful documentary "Combat Diary: But once the bad stuff starts happening, you'll have some of the worst days of your life. Of Marines in the company, 23 died in combat and 36 others were wounded badly enough to receive Purple Hearts.

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As part of the 3rd battalion, 25th regiment, the Marines patrolled insurgent strongholds along the Euphrates River Valley and the Syrian border, a region that gets scant news coverage but is referred to by Marines as the "wild west. From those videos, and their own long, thoughtful interviews with the returning troops, Epstein and co-producer Jonathan Yellen have created a two-hour documentary of young men and war that tells not just how Marines fight but, in large measure, why.

Yellen, a former Marine, is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. Attention to detail is an Epstein trademark. The Marines of Lima Company enlisted to fight. And were disappointed when they figured deployment to Iraq would be boring sentry duty. It didn't work out that way.

Shawn Delgado remembered the day Navy corpsman Travis Youngblood was hit: Don't get another corpsman, I'll be back. In the videos shot in Iraq, the Marines are high-spirited and youthfully profane. In the interviews done by Epstein and crew, they've had time to reflect on the meaning of war. Guy Zierk tells of kicking in the door of an insurgent house and, filled with rage over the death of his buddies, coming close to killing two women and a teenage boy.

At the last moment, he pulls back. Epstein knows that foreign policy has little to do with why men keep fighting. Travis Williams, interviewed while fishing in Montana, explains why he wants to return to Iraq. The Marines of Lima Company' Where: TV-PG may be unsuitable for young children. She saw her husband again, and listened to his voice, on video clips Tuesday night at an emotional and somber screening of a new documentary on the Columbus-based Lima Company, which lost 16 members, including Lance Cpl.

More than family and friends attended the private event. One woman walked out of a theater crying, her hands covering her face. Dozens of others used handkerchiefs to wipe their red eyes. John Dyer's son Christopher was one of five Tri-State residents who were killed while the unit was deployed. I obviously wish I could watch it with him," he said. The film, "Combat Diary: Lima Company has received much media attention, but this is the first documentary about the unit, part of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook Park, said Maj. The Marines provided director and producer Michael Epstein with hours of footage.

Epstein said he and co-producer Jonathan Yellen, a former Marine who served during Desert Storm, wanted to cover the war in a different way. In one, the late Cpl.

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Andre Williams makes a video for his daughter's sixth birthday, Epstein said. In another, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem takes part in a pizza-eating contest. You could clear 1, houses and you don't know what's in that next one. Assigned as handler for four Iraqi Special Forces "I don't speak Iraqi," he worries , he's impressed that their searches are precise.

When one asks him to burn a Britney Spears cd, he feels more at ease; the men nickname their trainees "Beavis" and teach them to "cuss" tape shows the Iraqis, faces blurred out, chanting, "Fucking fucking fucking fucking pussy". Home from Iraq, the Lima Company survivors continue to think through their experiences. Hicks and Zierk shoot at targets: I haven't seen my boss in a year.

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For all the grief and regret voiced in Combat Diary , the focus remains on the troops' evolving sense of friendship. No matter the politics and missteps of the war, the men of Lima find in themselves and each other a kind of meaning.

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That doesn't exactly help surviving family members, who suffer in other ways, or even provide much in the way of support for new troops. But the vets must contend with particular, inescapable wisdom. As the documentary underlines, through canny combinations of images and interviews, combat survivors wrestle with guilt and confusion, trying to find their own ways back. Well into her 30s, silent film star Mary Pickford was the waif-iest waif in film history, and the number of convincing variations she wrung on this theme is remarkable.

Richard Tognetti reflects on synergising music and film with the cello-like voice of narrator Willem Dafoe in his work for Jennifer Peedom's gorgeous documentary, Mountain. The rootsy releases of prove that Americana is and always has been experiencing a Rainbow Wave. Considering its YA audience, Markus Zusak's Bridge of Clay is a superb and accessible gateway to developing critical literacy skills. Jean Grey and Cassandra Nova have their final showdown in a war of ideas, wherein Jean applies a different tactic to quell the conflict.

Christian Rivers' directorial debut, Mortal Engines, is that lump of coal in your holiday movie stocking. Australian producer Kaz James gives the song by the electro-folk outfit a deep house makeover, turning into a guaranteed floor-filler. William Welllman has made elegant use of shadows to convey serious issues before, and uses them in silent film You Never Know Women with a flourish.

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The Marines of Lima Company. As Lima Company members recall their experiences and, especially, friends who didn't come back, they remain conflicted about "what happened" and how they're expected to "deal with" it. The Marines of Lima Company Director: Available as import Website Trailer. War movies and documentaries. Share this Rating Title: The Marines of Lima Company Video 8.

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Combat Diary Fallujah 2004 Part 2

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