At first glance, Tell Spring Not To Come This Year feels like more of what we’ve already seen in war documentaries like Sebastian Junger’s Restrepo and Korengal. We see soldiers relaxing in the barracks or talking to locals, hear their stories and get a sense of the unique bond that grows between men in their circumstances.

It’s when Farouky bravely follows them out into the battlefield that things take a turn for the worse. As the bullets fly all around, he captures that paradoxical sense of terror and boredom in a firefight that so many similar films fail to convey.

Tell Spring is an angrier yet wearier documentary than most; the lists of fallen soldiers are a grim reminder of how little 11 years of war has changed.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION 

DIRECTORS: Saeed Taji Farouky, Michael McEvoy

SYNOPSIS: Tell Spring Not to Come This Year follows one unit of the Afghan National Army over the course of their first year of deployment in Helmand without NATO support.

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015 ran from June 5th-10th 2015. One Room With A View’s coverage is available here.