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How relatives of Dutch soldiers who have been dispatched to Afghanistan for a perilous reconstruction mission experience this uncertain and lonely period.
'It's worse for the people staying home than for those out there', a Dutch soldier's wife moans. Thuisfront deals with the war in Afghanistan. Not with the concrete situation in the war zone, but with the people staying behind in Holland. Some of them are filmed for the period of time the soldiers are in Uruzgan: a pregnant woman, a wife and her children, a father and mother. Although their loved ones formally contribute to a 'reconstruction mission', many of them wonder if this is not a propagandistic euphemism. Small wonder that tensions runs high. A 'uniform' at the front door turns out, to great relief, to be just an ordinary mailman. A packet of rolling tobacco with the text 'Smokers die younger' attains a distressing connotation. The frequent reaction from outsiders that 'this was after all his own choice' hurts. Email, (video) phone and parcel post keep the contact warm. Other than that, home base anxiously watches the TV news, which makes mention of a heated battle. On their return, emotions are vented.

Credits

Director
Producer
Visual Effects
Production company
Amsterdamse Filmstichting
TV company
IKON TV
Distributor NL
Amsterdamse Filmstichting

Title: Thuisfront
Year: 2008
Duration : 1 hour
Category: Long Documentary
Edition: NFF 2008

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