Army veteran and filmmaker shows a different side of war in “Day One”
SUMMARY
Any time someone sets out to make a war film, he or she risks getting swept up into the action, the combat, the inherent drama that comes with the subject. The truly great war movies recognize the smaller elements, the ironies and subtleties of life during conflicts. Day One, a short film from U.S. Army veteran turned filmmaker Henry Hughes, is such a movie.
"We're not having a lot of success in getting telling the soldier experience story," says Hughes, an American Film Institute alum. "I don't think we've changed much how we look at war and the stories that come out of it. Troops are portrayed as either victims or heroes. We still think war is ironic, that we go in and we're surprised by the things that we find in war. Maybe there's some bad things about it, and we're like 'oh that's a surprise!' But it's not a surprise. War is a very mixed bag, but it can be spiritual and it can be fun and it can be dangerous and it can be morally wrong at times and it can also be one of the things you're most proud of because you do some really good things."
Day One is based on Hughes' own experience with his translator while he was an infantry officer in 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team. The movie follows a new female translator's first day accompanying a U.S. Army unit as it searches for a local terrorist in Afghanistan. Her job brings up brutal complexities as gender and religious barriers emerge with lives hanging in the balance.
"In my first deployment we didn't even look at the women," Hughes continues. "I remember that was a thing we did as a company. When we were on a trail and a woman came by, we would clear the trail, turn out, and allow them to walk by. Now all of a sudden, I mean I'm not face to face with these women but my interpreter would tell me she just spoke with a woman that would give us a very different perspective from what we would usually get. It's interesting in that way."
Hughes' Army perspective spans more than just his time as an Army officer. He was also a military brat, following his dad with the rest of the family, living in Germany and Texas. As an officer in the 173d, he went to Airborne and Ranger School, Armor School, and Scout Leaders Course to prepare for his time in Afghanistan during 2007 and 2008 and then again in 2010.
"I'm very interested in exploring the military stuff because it is such a hyperbolic life." He says. "Things are just so condensed and so strange and powerful. It's like the meaning of life is life hangs in balance sometimes. You get that moment in the military and most people don't ever work in those types of absolutes."
Hughes has always been the artistic type. He went to a high school that had a TV studio, which inspired the creative side of his personality. He's also come to believe that the military is the perfect place to start a filmmaking career.
"You take so many lessons from your military experience and apply them into filmmaking because it is so team-oriented and team-based. The ability to communicate and draft up a single clear mission or objective. Those skills that I learned as a young officer are paying massive dividends now, being creative."
Hughes also believes a good storyteller must step out of his or her comfort zone to empathize with the characters and relate them to the audience.
"With trying to express yourself artistically, you have to be a little bit more vulnerable. 'What is actually at play here,' as opposed to 'How do I accomplish this?' I think you have to be a little bit more introspective whereas in the military, we're very external and action-driven. It's just analysis but we all do tons of analysis in the military too. I think it's a good thing."
Watch 'Day One' here.
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