Nathan Harris Hell and Back Again

1 Marine's Journey To 'Hell And Dorsum Again'

Hell and Back Once again focuses on Sgt. Nathan Harris' life on the battlefield in Afghanistan and at home in North Carolina. Courtesy Danfung Dennis hide caption

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Courtesy Danfung Dennis

Hell and Dorsum Again focuses on Sgt. Nathan Harris' life on the battlefield in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan and at home in North Carolina.

Courtesy Danfung Dennis

Photojournalist Danfung Dennis has captured the brutalities of the state of war in Afghanistan for The New York Times, Newsweek, The Guardian and The Washington Post. But as the war stretched on, he started to experience that the images were losing their impact.

"Later and then many years of war," he tells NPR'due south Neal Conan, "club's become numb to pictures of conflict, so I felt like I had to move into a new medium to endeavor to milk shake people from their indifference."

Dennis embedded with the U.S. Marines Echo Company in Afghanistan and created the documentary Hell and Back Once again. The film, which was nominated for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, follows the story of a wounded Marine. Sgt. Nathan Harris' was injured by burn from a Taliban machine gun and then struggles to transition back to life in North Carolina.

From 'Hell And Dorsum Once more' - 'That'southward Where It Hurts'

'That's Where It Hurts'

From 'Hell And Back Again' - 'I Just Love My Pistol'

'I Only Dear My Pistol'

From 'Hell And Back Again' - 'How You Doin' Ma'am?'

'How You Doin' Ma'am?'

From 'Hell And Back Over again' - 'He Gets And so Mad'

'He Gets So Mad'

Dennis says he start met Harris on one of the worst days of fighting Dennis had experienced. One Marine had been killed the mean solar day before, a dozen had complanate from exhaustion, and water was running low.

"That'southward when a Marine handed me his bottle of h2o, and this was Sgt. Nathan Harris. And I could tell he was this exceptional leader, completely fearless," says Dennis. "And and so I followed his platoon equally they pushed further into this stronghold."

Dennis says he didn't realize that Harris would exist the moving picture's central character until about seven months into filming. After Harris was injured, Dennis essentially lived with Harris and his married woman, Ashley, during his recovery.

The story shifted to capture the challenges of returning from state of war, and Dennis says Harris openly and honestly shared his life with the camera.

"I retrieve it's considering we went through such traumatic experiences in Afghanistan that he trusted me, and I trusted him. He showed me the darker aspects of coming home, of existence in the armed ... forces. We sort of went through that aforementioned struggle of coming back and trying to readjust," Dennis says.

Harris was able to stay on as an active-duty marine in the Wounded Warrior Regiment in Camp Lejeune, Due north.C. He continues to undergo physical therapy to regain the utilise of his legs. Harris, who joined the Marines at 18, continues to cope with the realization that he won't return to Transitional islamic state of afghanistan in combat.

"In a gainsay zone ... it'southward simple. You lot slumber, walk, fight — practice information technology again the next day," says Dennis. "And then when you lot get back and you're trying to deal with complex relationships, doing your taxes, but the everyday things of life, that tin nearly be more hard than beingness out in the field."

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Source: https://www.npr.org/2012/02/20/147060968/one-marines-journey-to-hell-and-back-again

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