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Beyond the Call (2008)
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Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 5
Rotten:4
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Theatrical Release: Apr 18, 2008 Limited
Synopsis:
In an Indiana Jones meets Mother Teresa adventure, three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern-day knights, travel the world delivering life saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors in some of the...
In an Indiana Jones meets Mother Teresa adventure, three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern-day knights, travel the world delivering life saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors in some of the most dangerous yet beautiful places on Earth, the front lines of war.
Ed Artis, Jim Laws and Walt Ratterman are self-styled Knights of Malta, and in 1995, they formed Knightsbridge International, a unique humanitarian aid organization, whose motto is "High Adventure and Service to Humanity." Artis explains: "We're not there to change anybody's politics, we're not in the God business, and we pay our own way." Their specialty is going where death from landmines, bullets, or bombs is as frequent as death from hunger, disease, or the elements. As Laws tells it simply, “We do what we can, when we can, because we can.
Their personal convictions and courage drive them to places such as Afghanistan, Albania, Chechnya, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Rwanda and the southern Philippines, often when few if any other humanitarian aid organizations are around. The camera follows Artis, Laws and Ratterman as they take us on a journey into the heart of humanity and the soul of courage. -- © WadiRum Films
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Starring: James Laws, Ed Artis, Walt Ratterman
Starring: James Laws, Ed Artis, Walt Ratterman
Director: Adrian Belic
Director: Adrian Belic
Producer: Adrian Belic
Composer: Marcello De Francisci
Studio: Wadi Rum
Reviews for Beyond the Call
Though it's not the most technically or narratively proficient piece, the film's compelling subjects can't help but inspire, even if we're not always privy to what truly drives them or how their family lives have been affected.
You walk out of Beyond the Call admiring these humanitarians but not the movie about them -- unless you like films with lots of hugging.
A frustrating and frequently monotonous account, a public-relations presentation that only occasionally reveals the hits (or misses) of their missions.
An extremely inspiring film that is also hilarious, exciting and heartwrenching.
Adrian Belic’s straightforward film shows the men in action and allows them to tell -- in their salty, no-B.S. way -- their own stories of how and why they do what they do.
The construction of this documentary could have used the kind of firm hand that these three self-professed Don Quixote's might have provided
The scenery is marvelous, but Belic is a bit too admiring of his subjects.

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