If war is hell, it must partly be because it is unending, chaotic and incomprehensible to those in it. Most of us are lucky enough not to know that from first hand experience. But it is expressed poignantly, forcefully and even poetically in this unique and moving documentary. I know that some of you are saying, “Please, not another documentary about Iraq.” But this is less a film about the Iraq conflict than it is about the universality of men at war, albeit expressed through the point of view of soldiers most recently caught up in battle. As directed by Richard E. Robbins, who formerly worked with newsman Peter Jennings and whose production company is dedicated to carrying on in Jennings’ memory, Operation Homecoming sprang from a National Endowment for the Arts program to encourage members of the military to put their experiences into writing. The film interviews some of these, along with older writers who served in World War Two, Korea and Vietnam. And it offers their stories and journals, reenacted in visually variant ways that are compelling without diminishing the force of the written word (as read by professional actors). Without taking a stand on the current conflict, the results dispel some of the hoarier clichés about war while opening your imagination to look at in unexpected ways. It will almost certainly make you regard any veteran you know in a new and different light.