Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen

I recently watched "Make Peace or Die." First, I'm very surprised that I'm the first to leave a user review. As a nation still grappling with its most recent wars on the big-picture, foreign policy level, this documentary narrows in one unit. It recounts the lives of 17 Marines of the 1st Battalion 5th Marines killed over the summer of 2011. This is an in-your-face, unflinching look at the results of war from the most personal level--the surviving families. One of the battalion's Marines Anthony Marquez carved a beautiful, life-size battlefield cross for each of the families. Now, 10 years after those 17 deaths, Marquez revisits each family. The gut-punch of each visit is palatable. The families' pain is as raw 10 years later as it was the day Marine Casualty Officers delivered the terrible news. Later in the doc, there is an additional shock that is unbelievably moving. I'm not revealing it. I encourage everyone-especially those who do NOT have family serving in the military-to understand what the depth of that service means. This is a beautifully done doc that handles a lot of issues within its short 90 minutes. You won't regret watching it. It'll stay with you a long time.