(PLEASE NOTE: What I Want You To Know contains authentic, uncensored stories, video and images from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The film may not be suitable for high school freshmen or sophomores.)
While many documentary films have been made about the post-911 wars, most provide a narrow focus on a single person or platoon, a single battle or incident. What I Want You To Know is a broad accounting of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an exploration of their costs and consequences, as told through interviews with veterans who served in combat roles in the Army and the Marines in different ranks and specialties, and who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. Through deeply personal stories told with courage and candor - stories that are usually only talked about in private with other veterans – they share their experiences during and after their deployments and paint a picture of the moral complexities and impacts of their wars, and of war itself.
What I Want You To Know lays bare the extent of what war does to those who do the actual fighting, particularly with regard to moral injury, the profound psychological and emotional wound that many veterans carry from their wartime experiences.