Above the Best

After watching Above The Best, directed by David Salzberg, I felt a strong sense of renewed patriotism and understanding for the courageousness of our American soldiers. Salzberg and Tureaud placed a strong emphasis on the selfless acts of heroism portrayed by warriors such as Chris Ambro and Bill Cook. The heartfelt retelling of the traumatic and strenuous events of combat provided me with an eye-opening grasp on the reality that these are real people who are out risking their lives for our country. The display of valor and selflessness by the soldiers in this film left me feeling utterly grateful and indebted to not only those featured in Above The Best, but American soldiers universally. This inspiring film awakened me to the idea of new perspectives while providing me with a refreshed esteem for our country!

The amazing war documentary, Above The Best, is not only a unique look into the lives of soldiers in combat, but a story of courage and unity. The film tells the stories of soldiers and pilots and their experiences in the Korengal Valley through talking heads and footage that they personally took while in combat. The director's decision to use body cam footage to drive the narrative was a very creative choice that did a great job of portraying the reality and context of combat to the audience. The incredible editing of the raw footage captured by the soldiers really exemplified to me as a viewer the amount of bravery that is required of these people. You can see the dangers they put themselves in to protect other soldiers, some they may not even know, and it is truly inspiring. I thought it was incredible to see Apache pilot Daniel Flores talk about how his experiences have affected him and still affect him in his daily life. Overall, I would definitely recommend Above The Best as an extraordinary documentary about a story of heroism and teamwork.

Of all the attributes that make Above the Best an astounding war documentary, I think the unique editing style really sets it apart. The film features archival footage from the war in Afghanistan paired with interviews of the soldiers who recorded and lived through the battles depicted in the footage. During the interviews, they cut the footage to create a glitching effect when the veterans discuss their panic and anxiety attacks from the war. This gave me a visual representation of the disorientation they felt as they lived through the battle that was being shown throughout the film. There was also a vignette effect used during these anxiety attacks that portrayed the feeling of claustrophobia the soldier was experiencing. These editing tactics only made the emotions and feelings expressed throughout this documentary more powerful and moving. Above the Best is definitely a strong, emotionally driven film that is important for people to see.

This is a horrible film about a National Guard Apache unit. They were my unit's replacements in 2006 and they were a horrible unit. The National Guard should not have AH-64 aircraft because being an attack aviator is a full time job. Please do not judge Army attack aviation by this one weird film and by this horrible unit who let their lift brothers and ground forces down day after day.

Great, some random warrant officer illegally strapped a GoPro camera to the outside of his aircraft to get flight footage. Wonder if he got an official release from the Army to show his flight footage?? Did he have an Airworthiness Release (AWR) for the addition of the outside camera??

I wouldn't have made a film about a less than stellar Apache unit. There are much better units and pilots out there with much better stories.

Above The Best was an exceptionally inspirational documentary that presented a story about US soldiers who fought in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. The film was presented through the unique lens of actual raw footage that was captured by the soldiers themselves. An element in the film that I found particularly moving was seeing how the American soldiers teamed together with Afghan troops, which really emphasized the tone of togetherness and selflessness. One of the Afghans, Naser Ahmadi, showed a great deal of heroism while risking his life for his brothers in battle and presented a unique perspective of what occurred during the war. With that being said, Above The Best was a film that guided me to feel a great sense of empathy for these heroes and I really want to encourage you to give it a watch too.