Brats: Our Journey Home
How growing up in a military family affects your childhood and your whole life.
The most common use of the term “brat” is for an obnoxious or ill-mannered child. It’s also used – with none of that other meaning in play – for children born into military families. My dad was career Navy; I’m a Navy brat, so I was really interested in seeing this documentary.
The main thing all brats have in common is moving -- from city to city, to other countries – every two or three years. Brats: Our Journey Home talks with people who grew up in military families, delving into what that constant relocating does to your sense of home and who you are, not just in childhood, but throughout your life. The brats that filmmaker Donna Musil talked with, also shared the restrictiveness of living on a military base, where a wrong move on the child’s part could hurt the parent’s career.
Musil – a brat herself – talked with hundreds of military children, of all ages, looking for commonalities, and she found incredibly compelling stories to which all brats can relate. Non-brats will come away with an understanding that military families make almost as many sacrifices as the service members themselves.
Home movies, archival films, and family photos give the audience a real glimpse into military life over several decades, through peace and war, set against a backdrop of songs provided by Air Force brat, Kris Kristofferson.
Brats: Our Journey Home is a must-see for brats and their friends and loved ones who want to understand why they see the world from a whole different perspective.
Written by: Auriette Lindsey
Reviewers Rating: 8.5
Reader's Rating: 9.50
Reader's Votes: 2
Added: 24-Dec-2006
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