Where Soldiers Come From
Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
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  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Andrew Barker
    Sep 5, 2011
    80
    Covering their lives with intimate access from before boot camp to the difficult return home, Heather Courtney's documentary packs a savage but understated punch.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Sep 8, 2011
    70
    Where Soldiers Come From is, more than anything, a commentary on class. In its compassionate, modest gaze, the real cost of distant political decisions is softly illuminated, as well as the shame of a country with little to offer its less fortunate young people than a ticket to a battlefield.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    Sep 6, 2011
    70
    Much of what's presented is familiar territory, but it's the moments that fracture prejudices and expectations that stick with you.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Sep 9, 2011
    60
    To see these children of waitresses, salon workers and fathers on disability burdened because they stepped up is humanizing and heartbreaking.
  5. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Sep 6, 2011
    60
    It's only during the last third that the film finds its footing, as the PTSD fallout and collective sense of disillusionment suggest a bigger picture regarding why we fight, etc. Otherwise, this decent, if decidedly personal, look at small-town soldiers works better as an erratic scrapbook than a representative statement.
  6. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Gary Goldstein
    Oct 9, 2011
    50
    Despite the film's unvarnished emotionality and even-handed messaging, Courtney never seems to have found an appropriate focus, resulting in a work that's less urgent and involving than its intense subject matter might have dictated.
  7. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    Sep 17, 2011
    50
    There's a good deal of honest emotion onscreen, particularly from the parents left behind to worry, yet the documentary sometimes feels like the work of a filmmaker who began with a preconceived story and wasn't quite sure what to do with the one she actually got.
  8. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Lauren Wissot
    Sep 4, 2011
    50
    A four-year study of an Afghan war-bound group of friends (the mother of Cole, the goofy joker of the group, compares the boys to the characters in The Deer Hunter), Courtney's documentary is equal parts heartfelt and public-television predictable.

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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. DTDunn
    6
    An interesting, if somewhat predictable, tale about how young men sometimes stumble into war and the aftermath of that life changing decision. Neocons like Dick Chaney should be forced to watch this film every day they are alive, for the remainder of their comfortable lives.… Full Review »