Ready For War (Andrew Renzi, 2019): USA

Reviewed by Diego Riker. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival.

Ready For War, directed by Andrew Renzi, follows the captivating story of former United States war veterans who have been deported from the country, despite the military’s promise of citizenship after serving for the country. Right off the bat, hearing that this was happening was shocking to me, as it is hard to fathom that after serving our country, someone would be deported to an unknown area, forcing them to leave their family and life behind.

The film introduces us to three veterans who have been deported from the US on fairly minor infractions of the law, as the government seems to be waiting for any slight reason to have these men deported. A couple of these men have had to abandon their family, their children, and their old life because of the ignorance of the United States government.

Throughout learning about these men and how they’ve been living after being deported, I developed a connection with them and felt myself feeling really bad for them. The director does a great job of allowing the audience to make a connection with the men so the film holds more meaning to them. One of the veterans had an especially big impact on me, as he was deported to Mexico and opened a shelter for homeless veterans who need a place to stay to get back on their feet. This showed me that even people in the worst circumstances are able to make the best of their situation and even help others in their same situation.

Above all, this documentary reminded me how thankful I need to be in my situation, having citizenship in the US and not having to worry about getting deported at all. It also reminded me how aware I need to be about how unfortunate some people’s circumstances are who have literally put their life on the line for the country I live in.