Rupa Marya’s documentary “Johnny Come Home” tells the story of Marine Veteran John Marchelleta’s recent experience in Iraq. Told retrospectively, Marchelleta’s narration captures how the uncertainty of death breeds contradiction. A lone violin sets a fitting ambiance as the marine remembers one night in the desert that changed his life forever. Following a strict mandate and using the extensive skills and recourses provided by the military, Marchelleta remembers the night his battalion was ambushed by Bath loyalists. The following morning’s discovery of the dismembered bodies of two young girls forced Marchelleta to question the purpose of the U.S. led invasion and sketched an image in his memory that still haunts him months after returning home.

Marya’s documentary captures the horrific realities of war and through its narrative provides a very personal feel. Marchelleta comments that the, “war is about getting Saddam out, not sacrificing people”. The documentary succeeds in demonstrating this contradiction and the dire affects it holds both for the victims of war and those caught under the wheels of the war machine they once believed in.