Soul Patrol
This moving, creative, and seminal documentary depicts the final reunion of an all-Black six-man patrol team in Vietnam, ensuring that their courage and experiences are not lost to history.
Description
It starts in Vietnam in 1968 with an all-Black six-man patrol team – the first of its kind for this particular war. One of the members, Ed Emmanuel, writes a memoir about the men in 2003, and this moving, creative, and vital documentary depicts their final reunion in 2024. In addition to the veterans’ reminiscences and deep camaraderie, the film incorporates Super 8 footage shot by vets and dramatic reenactments to paint a full picture of these men’s experiences, their lingering traumas, and their continuing friendship. There is darkness, of course – as one of the members reflects, “We survived the war, but there was no peace” – and Soul Patrol doesn’t shy away from the irony of fighting for a country that doesn’t treat Black men well. But the key factor here is recognition – the story of these men and their heroic efforts might have been lost forever without Emmanuel’s book and this seminal film. —Rod Armstrong
Biographies
J.M. Harper is a writer/director living in Brooklyn with his family and a cat named Miles Davis. While studying German media theory at Princeton, he started making films. He was awarded the US Documentary Directing Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival for Soul Patrol. His directorial debut As We Speak (2024) is an Emmy-nominated documentary about the growing use of rap lyrics as evidence in the US criminal justice system. He was named to DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 list in 2024. In 2025, he was awarded the prestigious Concordia Fellowship, the Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, and is a Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film Finalist.