Product Details

• Directors: Patricia Boiko, Laurel Spellman Smith
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Typecast Releasing
• DVD Release Date: July 10, 2009
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001FT4QIC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,066 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

With neither political slant nor ulterior motive, the film communicates the personal cost of war... --Seattle P.I.

...(has) a sense of profound hopefulness. --Seattle Times

". . . the film [has] a sense of profound hopefulness."

Product Description

Winner! Most Powerful Documentary
- Seattle True Independent Film Festival

Special Edition DVD includes Jonathan's complete diary entries from Iraq in a limited edition 20-page booklet. The true story of two soldiers, one who never returned and one who returned forever changed.

Twenty-two year old Corporal Jonathan Santos had documented his 37 days of military service in Iraq in a personal diary before a roadside bomb took his life and the lives of several of his friends and servicemen on October 15, 2004. Jonathan's mother, Doris, wasn't aware that her son had kept a diary until his Tuff Box - a soldier's chest filled with their most valuable items - was sent to her after his death. Upon opening the box, she discovered his little green book and a stack of videocassettes on which he had recorded daily life in Iraq.

When Doris is finally able to bring herself to watch the tapes, she finds images of Jonathan's arrival in Iraq, pictures from a cousin's wedding he was able to attend while on leave, and scenes of Jonathan laughing and joking with his Army buddies including Private Matthew Drake, one of Jonathan's best friends, who was the sole survivor of the attack in which Jonathan was killed. The record of Jonathan's final few weeks, in which he expresses fears and doubts never voiced to his family in person, is at once inspiring, personal and profound.

Both an affecting story of courage and a universal tribute to soldiers everywhere, The Corporal's Diary follows Doris' journey as she moves beyond her pain to meet with the families of others who have lost loved ones in the war. Together they share stories, offer comfort and pay tribute to the lives of the brave young servicemen and women who have sacrificed their lives in Iraq.

DVD Features:

Limited Edition: 20 page booklet which includes Jonathan's complete diary

The Corporal's Boots - The story of one soldier's boots

Interview: Doris and Lisa - Followup interview with the mothers of Jonathan and Matthew.

Corporal Santos' Last Letter Home - Jonathan's last letter home, read by his mother

Update on Matthew's condition

Classroom Guide & Teaching Materials

Audio: English

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The heartaches of war, November 11, 2008

By 

Joy Y. Chang "Joy" (Lakewood, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Corporal's Diary, The (DVD)

This movie is very provacative in the sense that it is all true and is from a person who is living through his life through the military. His thoughts and comments are something that ALL soldiers have thought about when deploying to war zone. He is someone that we all shouldn't forget nor should we forget to think about. This movie gives the insight of a soldier and his true journey through the battlezone.

I have been to Iraq and fought with what Johnathan has fought and seen what he has seen, but I was lucky enough to escape it. The media has given society that the idea of war is something that is glorified, when in sense, we are eternally scarred. This movie does a great job in giving the viewer the true sense of what the war is really like.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't forget their sacrifice!, November 11, 2008

By 

Nicole B. "Nicole" (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Corporal's Diary, The (DVD)

I first saw this film at the Seattle True Independant Film Festival and it truly was the best film of the festival! It tells the story of young soldier Jonathan Santos in his words and through his eyes as he takes us with him to Iraq with the help of his private journal and personal camcorder. Jonathan and his buddies are a young, likeable group of men who's time in Iraq quickly takes a tragic turn. It's a beautifully crafted documentary that not only honors Jonathan's sacrifice but all of our soldier's fighting overseas.

Please note this movie is NOT: a pro-war movie, a pro-Bush movie, a pro-military movie NOR is it an anti-war statement. It is the unbiased story of this young man and his family's sacrifice, a sacrifice that civilians like myself may not understand until we see it safe at our home, on our television screens.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important piece of film work, November 12, 2008

By 

J. Rodak (Seattle-ish, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Corporal's Diary, The (DVD)

I spent two hours with Doris yesterday knowing that I'd be viewing the film that night on PBS. It was Veteran's Day and I wanted to finally meet her in person after a phone call right after Jon died. Four years later, it's still a fresh memory. My nephew boarded a bus to boot camp with Jon; they were from the same town and went through "early entry" together. I struggle with survivor's guilt because I got my kid back, and Doris did not. But there are lessons to be learned for everyone in this film, including me. Doris has an important story to tell about love, risk, sacrifice, perseverence, courage and healing. There are more than 4,000 Jon Santoses, but his story can serve as he did: a proud, if reluctant, symbol of an unnecessary war fought nevertheless by young people who were thrust into a world most of us could never imagine, but whose three primary goals were to serve country, protect each other, and come home to their loved ones. That Jon fell short in one of three does not diminish his first two. We love you, Doris, Chris, Leslie, Jared and Justin, and Jon will be with us the rest of our days, teaching lessons that go far beyond war.