Above the Best

I can't say enough great things about this film. I saw it with a few friends of mine and by the end of it we couldn't help but sit back and reflect on how grateful we are to be protected by men like Daniel Flores. Above the Best is no Hollywood Blockbuster. It is an action film that portrays the real life actions and heroism of real American heroes. The men and women featured in this film get the call and they are out to risk their lives. That is the kind of high stakes situations that are being addressed in this film. This film had me on the edge of my seat from the beginning to the end. I highly recommend this film. David Salzberg has done it again.

In order to avoid spoilers, I may be a bit vague here. The overarching story of the bravery of Army air support crews is a good one. It is something I am interested in and it should have been easy for this film to engage me and make me happy I watched it. But sadly, it failed to do that. I say sadly because I was interested and wanted to know more and to understand. Instead I just ended up confused. The film begins with one tale in Afghanistan. A sad and terrible tale. Switches to a stateside tale in Maryland. Then returns to Afghanistan but never effectively ties them all together. The first story gets lost entirely. I still have no idea how it relates to the main thrust of the film. The second and third tales are related but there are huge unanswered questions about how they became connected. I was very interested in this film but ended up disappointed.

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.

Above the Best shows us a soldier's most perilous fear: the fear of failing to protect those you are there to support. The quick decisions demonstrated by the featured soldiers held such a high importance in "Above the Best." Refueling and reloading firepower or staying and waiting could mean life or death for the infantry soldiers below the US Army Apache Pilots. Above the Best demonstrates the very real fears/regrets that pilots like Daniel Flores have to live with and strongly persevere through. I have the greatest respect for those military personnel that have to act quick and risk their lives everyday. Above the Best really showcases their bold sacrifices and is a great watch.

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.