The genre of documentaries dictate that real life events that are often sad and tragic, driving the need for there to be a documentary in the first place. While that is not always the case, it is the general convention. The genre of war movies are even more so, as they often tell stories of turmoil, sacrifice, and tragic ends to lives before they've had a chance to be lived. So it's incredibly rare to see a documentary on the topic of war, that is uplifting and hopeful in the most meaningful of ways.
However, that's exactly what filmmaker Henrik Friis is able to accomplish with his documentary on ISIS, entitled #UnitedWeWin.
The film begins with four university aged students, making plans to visit the front lines of war torn Iraq, in an attempt to identify issues that the country faces in their war against the terrorist nation of ISIS. The film opens with Writer, Director and one of the 4 students, Friis himself, as he recounts his motivation and the inception point behind the documentary itself. It's an interesting start. Most documentary filmmakers will tell the story from an objective and disconnected perspective. So to have Friis involve himself in the project, on-camera, recounting a very personal and emotional reason behind his journey, is incredibly refreshing, and automatically invests the audiences in his journey as well.
#UnitedWeWin and its makers have a very clear objective; determine in layman's terms what the global community can do to further assist the war against terror, democracy and basic human rights that has been happening in Iraq for a decade now. The intentions are clear, and the youth involved are incredibly determined. The film shows perspectives that larger scale footage or news reports seemingly fail to depict in mainstream media.
What is most influential about the film, is seeing these young students, armed with noble ideals and good intentions, be close enough to the front lines to experience first hand the danger and threat to life that soldiers see on a daily basis. Their reactions, and re-invigoration is riveting and genuinely conveys a sense of deep hope and perseverance. It's a rare documentary that should definitely be seen by others, for whom the subject feels more like a far away thing to be dramatized by fictional movies, than anything they can personally contribute to.