Trailer for the documentary Where Soldiers Come From.
A group of young men, working-class natives of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, join the National Guard less out of a sense of patriotism than sheer ambivalence. For the three friends—an artist, an amiable wastrel and a cynic—there's simply nothing more promising on their horizons. Courtney's camera captures the lives of the enlistees, their families and their girlfriends with exceptional candor, and even before they've begun their dangerous tour of duty in Afghanistan, a powerful statement about the cost—economical and emotional—of soldiering has been made.