- For the most part, a well presented and balanced documentary. The director does not provide a political or emotional input to push the viewer towards one thing or another - he uses the raw footage of the soldiers to say "this is how it was" without any additional input. Someone watching it may well feel horrified and go on an anti-war drive - but this is clearly not the directors intention.
- The use of muted and non-digetic sound was well placed - speeding up the pace of the quieter scenes by placing guitar or mission briefings over the top of the video to hold the viewer's interest.
- Made use of photographs and frequent mentions of family (through phone calls, etc.) to help the viewer connect emotionally with the soldiers - in the same vein, the soldiers were interviewed afterwards in civilian clothing, which helped them to ground them in reality - just another man you might pass on the street.
- Other pacing decisions were well thought out - scenes where dialogue was passed through a translator were evidently cut down and subtitled where necessary so as not to let the viewer lose interest.
- Repeated mentions of the time passed/time remaining on the mission helped to build the tension, with the ever present danger of one of the men dying.
- Due to years of media representation, war films and video games, the audience may well have a very warped perception of the reality of war. Because of this the documentary's very real approach may well fail to hold the audiences attention, as it in no way reflects their predetermined opinions of what war is like (or even should be!)
