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The Moving Image review online
"Brats: Our Journey Home (review)"
J. Emmett Winn, The Moving Image (Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 2007, pp.114-117), University of Minnesota Press
Spring 2007
Review
Brats: Our Journey Home, Directed by Donna Musil, Brats without Borders, 2005.
For years dependent children of military personnel have been called brats by military and
nonmilitary alike. Being an ex-military dependent myself, I have always referred to myself
as a military brat whenever asked that awkward question, "Where are you from?" Donna Musil's
2005 documentary film Brats: Our Journey Home is a balanced and insightful investigation
of the problems, joys, and pains of growing up in the military that should appeal to brats
and their friends and families, as well as anyone interested in military family life. This
categorical documentary breaks military dependent life into sections that are loosely based
on topics relevant to the brat lifestyle. Each section consists of archival and amateur
footage of families living on U.S. military bases, interviews with military dependents,
and testimony by experts such as retired general and former brat Norman Schwartzkopf, who
speaks about his family's experiences during his father's military career in several
insightful interviews. For viewers unfamiliar with the problems of brat life, Musil has
interspersed scenes from Lewis John Carlino's 1979 film The Great Santini, which is based
on Pat Conroy's... (continued in magazine)
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