Premiere Date: October 16, 2008
Synopsis
When is it right to kill? In the midst of war, is it right to refuse? Eight U.S. soldiers today, some who killed and some who said no, reveal their inner moral dilemmas in Soldiers of Conscience. Made with official permission of the U.S. Army, the film transcends politics to explore the tension between spiritual values and military orders. Soldiers follows the stories of both conscientious objectors and those who criticize them. Through this clash of views, the film discovers a surprising common ground: all soldiers are "soldiers of conscience," torn between the demands of duty and the call of conscience.
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All too often we point our fingers at nations and presidents and huge institutions as if they are responsible for everything. We believe that is only partly true. Each one of us is also hugely responsible.”
— Gary Weimberg & Catherine Ryan, Filmmakers
View the Film
Film Update
October 14, 2008
Critical Acclaim
Wonderful... deeply personal... Reminds us that the burdens soldiers and Marines carry in the desert heat are far more complex and long lasting than we can possibly know.”
— Bob Kerr
The Providence Journal
provides fascinating insight into the moral dilemmas posed by military service in Iraq.”
— Bob Burnett
The Huffington Post
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Reviews & Reactions
Average Review
| based on 4 reviews
Pacifism is Practical
On May 31, 2009, at 11:30 PM, Liberty G wrote:
I've so much to say, I hardly know where to begin and how to be brief.
First, I guess I need to defend my right to have an opinion, as a woman and Quaker.
Well, what I am, have been for most of my life, is a researcher, a
journalistic style investigator of many concerns and issues. I am one
who learns from others, from their lives, from history. (I do also have
a family member who was in the military - and is as much for peace
as I am).
At one point in my life, I felt called from seminary to go out and
learn more about the psychology of violence - and wound up on the
road for two years in a kind of pilgrimage, having many adventures and
learning from all kinds of people. During this time, one of my stops was
a veterans' center where I first learned about the great resistance of human beings to pulling the trigger to kill another - as pointed out by this
excellent documentary.
Some points that I think need to be made:
1. The assumption is that violence "works". If you are willing to kill,
to fight, if you have and use a gun, you will protect yourself and others,
and you will win.
The truth is that violence only "works" short term some of the time -
in fact never more than half, because there is always a loser for
every "winner".
The truth is that violence always breeds more anger and hatred and violence down the road. As, for every "terrorist" killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, multiple replacements spring up in rage, to continue the cycle. Especially, this is true whenever we create "collateral damage" -
the murder of innocent civilians, children, old people, women...
2. I feel a deep concern for the men and women who have been so thoroughly taught by the military to overcome their humanity and compassion in order to be obedient soldiers engaging in violence on command. I particularly worry about what permanent changes they may experience from this, especially after actually going through the horrors in Iraq. Clearly, from the many with PTSD, many can't just turn off the switch and revert to mild mannered civilian types.
3. The fact is that there have always been alternatives to violence in dealing with conflicts and danger - but most of us are not taught about them. I happen to have spent about 7 or 8 years leading occasional weekend workshops as part of the Alternatives to Violence program - working with prisoners in places like Sing Sing in NY state. I also
found and reprinted a book called "Victories Without Violence" with
stories of people dealing non-violently with dangerous situations
through history, and another, more recent, "Safe Passages on City Streets". I later wrote and produced a video called "The Rock"
based on the true experience of a little girl confronting a bully and
getting him to leave her alone.
Does non-violence always work to protect? No, just as violence doesn't. However, peaceful means work far more often than we are given to believe - and can result in amazing transformation of situations and relationships. This is true even at the societal or national level - a Professor named Gene Sharp wrote a book on it, and among other things concluded that Americans were on their way to liberty from England through non-violent means, and that was probably delayed by the Revolutionary War. Sound incredible? Read his writings!
3. Those who are brandishing the Old Testament as justifying war are on shaky ground - as some have pointed out here. I could debate theology, but won't. However, note that NONE of Jesus' disciples and in fact no early Christians have been reported to take up arms vs. Rome or anyone else. Also, "turning the other cheek" is only one comment and does not imply passive yielding to abuse - the overall message of Christianity is
one of transforming love for others. Gandhi, King and others have demonstrated this. And I've both seen it work and heard and read the experiences of others with that sometime miracle. Try a couple of more remarkable books - "A Deadly Misunderstanding" by an evangelical former congressman who wound up seeing Jesus and other commonalities in the Koran; "Blood Brothers", by Palestinian priest whose family was driven from their home when Israel was founded - but works for peace and, as the title suggests, feels fellowship with Jews; "Not By the Sword", in which a former Klansman is befriended by a Rabbi's family, winds up being cared for them in his illness and converting to Judaism! All true stories. More wisdom can be found in "America Without Violence", by Michael Nagler - and many more.
As the inspiring COs in "Soldiers of Conscience" prove, although capable of great violence and evil, humans also have an amazing ability to rise above it all, to follow their conscience and renounce killing.
I pray that many more of us will "study war no more" and instead be willing and courageous enough to take the chance of learning about and following the less traveled path of peace.
**************************************************************************************
by Liberty G
June 8, 2009, 11:45 PM
A Great Film
This film cannot be praised enough.
Most importantly, this film shows why the PTSD of modern solders is so much higher than WWII veterans. It is not that WWII soldiers were made of tougher stuff, far from it. As determined by an official Army historian, in WWII less than 25% actually aimed their weapons at the enemy. When most soldiers actually had to pull the tigger they became conscientious objectors. When the Army learned this it realized it had to "condition" (i.e., brainwash) its soldiers in more effective ways.
In response to this information the Army began to teach "Reflexive Fire Training" so that soldiers would shoot wihtout thinking "should I shoot this person?" In other words, the Army brainwashes is soldiers to kill without a conscience.
The inevitable result was the increase of PTSD statistics in each war from Korea, then Vietnam, and now from Iraq. By conditioning soldiers to kill reflexively without a conscience, these same soldiers return home without having this natural function of conscience dulled at best or broken at worst. The Army is deliberately numbing, and in some cases crippling, a person's conscience and returning them to civilian life in this condition. Is it any wonder that suicides are higher than eveer for returning soldiers?
by Gregory Wonderwheel
July 3, 2009, 6:12 PM
Uh... What?
I was a tank commander in SGT Binderman's unit during OIF I.
SGT Binderman was a mechanic in C Troop 1-10 Cavalry, 4ID during Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003-2004. Our mission was to monitor the Iranian border, a rather peaceful, boring mission at that time.
Mechanics don't go out on patrol. Mechanics rarely, if ever, go outside "the wire". So what did Binderman experience that traumatized him from inside the garage?
I remember finding out after SGT Binderman had been transferred to another duty station, that he was a conscientious objector. We were all like, "what?" We immediately felt he pulled that card because the unit he transferred to was redeploying soon, and he'd just come back from Iraq. That sucks to be sure, but being a support Soldier, a mechanic who doesn't fight... it seemed ridiculous.
Going to war sucks. It does. But that's what Soldiers do. And it's not personal. It's very impersonal. Those who attack you don't know you, nor you them. That in itself is horrifying, that it's so indiscriminate. But you, wearing that uniform stand in the way of something, and those that stand against you are an obstacle that you must overcome in order to survive, to return to your loved ones -- which in he end is everyone's mission: to come back alive and in one piece.
by SFC Crossen from Fort Irwin, CA
September 6, 2009, 9:15 PM
Student
I like pbs programs . I was born in nicaragua mister mejia"s dad is the one that wrote the sandinistas anthons that said we figth the gringos the enemies of humanity. He is a coward when people get into an army of any country they know people are going to died he is a coward. Not the right person to be interview .As a nicaraguan I know hes family last name.
by Haron Linarte from Miami, FL
October 19, 2009, 2:38 AM