The Ground Truth

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Director Patricia Foulkrod's powerful documentary spotlights American soldiers sharing -- with aching honesty -- their experiences on the battlefield in Iraq and back home as they try to reassemble their lives. These men and women discuss the anguish of war, the difficulties of readjusting to life after their tours of duty and the often callous treatment returning troops receive from the military and the Veterans Administration.
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Netflix Rating: 3.6
NYT Review: Patricia Foulkrod's film is a pointed indictment of the American military's treatment of soldiers who return from Iraq emotionally and mentally shattered only to encounter resistance when seeking treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Read the review
Top Rotten Tomatoes Critics: A stunning statement on how we mistreat our best and bravest young men.

James Greenberg, Hollywood Reporter

The voices of these brave young people reverberate hauntingly. full review

Claudia Puig, USA Today

Mostly a string of talking-head interviews, but those talking heads -- more than 16 men and women -- are compelling. full review

Desson Thomson, Washington Post

The Ground Truth powerfully documents the human cost of the Iraq war. full review

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It's an edifying, upsetting film that offers a different perspective on the situation in the Middle East. full review

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger

Those vets certainly deserve to be heard, but virtually every scene of the film tells us something we already knew.

Kyle Smith, New York Post

This thoughtful, sensitive film, perhaps the most emotionally wrenching of all the Iraq documentaries, could have been made after any war. full review

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

I don't pretend to understand the pressures facing U.S. troops in Iraq, but I feel a little closer after witnessing The Ground Truth. full review

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press

The substance of the movie is potent, and so powerfully presented by those who have fought and are still fighting a controversial war, that the message of Ground Truth cannot be dismissed. full review

John Anderson, Variety

The documentary any American with an opinion on our involvement in Iraq owes it to his or her conscience to see. full review

Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Even if you endorse the director's bullish peacenik stance, you may feel like picking an argument, for the unique thrill that only ambiguity can deliver. full review

Jan Stuart, Newsday

Amid the continuing deluge of documentaries about the war in Iraq, Patricia Foulkrod's film The Ground Truth stands out as an especially pointed indictment of the American military's treatment of its own people on and off the battlefield.

Stephen Holden, New York Times

Thanks largely to the brutal honesty of its subjects, The Ground Truth transcends the protest genre and delivers a much broader cautionary tale. full review

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

Patricia Foulkrod's film backs itself into a Support Our Troops corner, elegizing the soldiers. Iraqis do not figure in, except as bad memories. full review

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

Films like Top Gun and newscasts of 9/11 motivated some Americans to enlist. Thoughtful documentaries like The Ground Truth urge the rest of us to shoulder the consequences. full review

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

full review by Dana Stevens, Slate