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Screen Time: Veteran's Day Edition

By Akiva Gottlieb


From 'Almost Sunrise.' Courtesy of POV.

Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. This week we highlight documentaries about American veterans.

Premiering tonight, Monday, November 13 on POV is Michael Collns and Marty Syjuco's Almost Sunrise. In an attempt to put haunting combat experiences behind them, two friends embark on an epic 2,700-mile trek on foot across America, seeking redemption and healing as a way to close the moral chasm opened by war.

Premiering tonight, Monday, November 13 on HBO is Deborah Scranton's War Dog: A Soldier's Best Friend, about the multi-purpose K9s who serve side-by-side with the nation's most elite Special Operations soldiers, finding and disarming enemies while providing emotional support to troops in the bleakest hours. 

Available for rent from Amazon is Danfung Dennis's Hell and Back Again, an Oscar-nominated doc that follows Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris into combat in Afghanistan, then back to the US after Harris is severely wounded.

Available for rent from YouTube is Aron Gaudet's The Way We Get By, an Emmy-nominated doc about a group of tireless senior citizens who devote their time to comforting US troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Available for rent from YouTube is Debra Granik's Stray Dog, a contemplative portrait of Ron "Stray Dog" Hall: biker, Vietnam Vet and lover of small dogs.