The United States’ longest war has not led to the type of feature cinema that helped define previous conflicts.  

The fighting in Afghanistan, lurching along even now after the formal end of U.S. combat operations last year, has not produced a “Casablanca” or “Saving Private Ryan” or “Apocalypse Now.” Whether it’s the economics of the industry or the difficulty in defining the post-9/11 era, Hollywood has been relatively hesitant to venture fictionally into the quagmire. Not so, documentary filmmakers.