''The Long Road Home'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

created by Mikko Alanne. It is based on the 2007 book ''The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family'' by

Martha Raddatz Martha Raddatz (; born February 14, 1953) is an American reporter with ABC News. She is the network's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent reporting for ABC's '' World News Tonight with David Muir'', ''Nightline'', and other network broadcasts. In a ...

, which tells the story of a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

unit during the first day of the

siege of Sadr City The Siege of Sadr City was a blockade of the Shi'a district of northeastern Baghdad carried out by U.S. and Iraqi government forces in an attempt to destroy the main power base of the insurgent Mahdi Army in Baghdad. The siege began on 4 April ...

() in 2004. The series stars Michael Kelly,

Jason Ritter Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Kevin Girardi in the television series '' Joan of Arcadia'', Ethan Haas in '' The Class'', Sean Walker in the NBC series ''The Event'', ...

Kate Bosworth Catherine Anne Bosworth (born January 2, 1983) is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films '' The Horse Whisperer'' (1998) and ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), she rose to prominence with her role as a young surfer in the box-offi ...

Sarah Wayne Callies Sarah Wayne Callies (born June 1, 1977) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Sara Tancredi in Fox's '' Prison Break'' and as Lori Grimes in AMC's '' The Walking Dead''. She has also starred as Katie Bowman in USA Network's ''Colo ...

Jeremy Sisto Jeremy Merton Sisto (born October 6, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Billy Chenowith in HBO's '' Six Feet Under'', NYPD Detective Cyrus Lupo in NBC's '' Law & Order'', George Altman in the ABC sitcom ''Suburgatory'', fo ...

Noel Fisher Noel Roeim Fisher (born March 13, 1984) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his portrayal of List of Shameless (U.S. TV series) characters#Mickey Milkovich, Mickey Milkovich on the Showtime (TV network), Showtime series ''Shameless (U.S. TV ser ...

, Jon Beavers, E. J. Bonilla, Jorge Diaz, Ian Quinlan, Darius Homayoun and

Patrick Schwarzenegger Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger (born September 18, 1993) is an American model, actor, investor, and entrepreneur. He is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. Early life and family Schwarzenegger was born at Providence St ...

. The miniseries premiered on

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

on November 7, 2017.

Cast

* Michael Kelly as LTC Gary Volesky *

as Troy Denomy *

as Gina Denomy *

as Leann Volesky *

as SGT Robert Miltenberger *

as PFC

Tomas Young Tomas Young (November 30, 1979 – November 10, 2014) was an American military veteran of the Iraq War. In 2004, he was wounded and paralyzed by a bullet to the spine five days after he reached Iraq. One of the first veterans to come out publicly ...

*Jon Beavers as SGT Eric Bourquin * E. J. Bonilla as LT Shane Aguero * Jorge Diaz as SPC Israel Garza *Ian Quinlan as SPC Robert Arsiaga *Darius Homayoun as Jassim Al-Lani *

as SGT Ben Hayhurst *

Katherine Willis Katherine Willis is an American actress and producer, best known for her roles as Myrtle Hale in ''Killers of the Flower Moon'', Diana Lord in ''Tell Me Your Secrets'', and Joanne Street in ''Friday Night Lights''. Early life and education W ...

as Cathy Smith *Franklin Silverio as SPC Acevedo *Joshua Brennan as SGT Jackson * Joey Luthman as SPC Jonathan Riddell *

Thomas McDonell Thomas Hunter Campbell McDonell (born May 2, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Finn Collins on the CW post-apocalyptic series '' The 100''. Early life McDonell was born and raised in Manhattan, New York, and attended boar ...

as SPC Carl Wild *Devonne Palmer as CPL Allan Alexander *Charlie Parrish as Burkholder *Micah Pediford as CPL Coleman *Devyn Placide as PVT Derrick Perry *Alex Ross as SFC Jerry Swope *Ezekiel Z. Swinford as SPC Matt Fisk *Roland Buck III as SPC Rafael Martin *

May Calamawy May El Calamawy ( ar, مي القلماوي, , born October 28, 1986) is an Egyptian-Palestinian actress who has worked and resided in the United States since 2015. She is known for her roles in the American television series '' Ramy'' as Dena H ...

as Faiza *Rana Haddad as Samira *Peter Malek as Essam *Laith Nakli as Alim *Bruce Peacock as SSG Haubert *Carter Redwood as Pedro Guzman *Jill Blackwood as Belinda Miltenberger *Mike Davis as CPT Dylan Randazzo *Andrew Michael Johnson as SPC Joshua Rogers *Ian Pala as SPC Seth Weibley *Christopher Dontrell Piper as SGT Reginald Butler *John Trentacoste Jr. as SPC Sean Crabbe *Luis Amory as SGT Miranda *Brandon Charles Chesser as SPC Jonathan Denny *Karina Ortiz as Lupita Garza *Sebastian Cook as Denomy's Soldier *Kenny Leu as SGT Eddie Chen *Parker Weathersbee as Elijah Aguero *Roby Attal as CPT David Mathias *Josh Cavazos as LT Clay Spicer *David DeLao as Chaplain Pena *Cotie Domm as PFC Luke Fournier *Garrett Graham as CPT John Moore *Charlotte Delaney Riggs as Chapel Kid *Gurie Sheffield as SFC Butler *Oriana Ledesma as High-school Student and Denomy’s Soldier *Duncan Coe as LT Cannon *Patrick Gathron as SPC Ahmed Cason *Joshua Phipps as SPC Stephen Hiller *Rochelle Robinson as Cindy Sheehan *Josh Vinyard as Jerry Bune *

Josh Blaylock Josh Blaylock (born March 29, 1990) is an American actor and professional photographer. Blaylock is best known for his role as BrianD in the web series ''Video Game High School'' from 2012 to 2014. He has also appeared in ''The Bernie Mac Show'', ...

as SPC Packwood *Rumor Ledesma as Child Church Attendee

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

Maureen Ryan Maureen "Mo" Ryan (born in 1966) is an American film and television critic, writer and reporter. From 2000 to 2018, she was a TV critic at the ''Huffington Post'' and the ''Chicago Tribune''. From 2015 to 2018, Ryan was the chief TV critic for ''V ...

writing for

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

gave the show a mixed review pointing out some strengths but perceiving it to be painful to watch and propagandistic in tone at times with major weaknesses throughout. She lauds the show's success at depicting the logistics of war and creating empathy for American soldiers and the ethical choices they were faced with during their missions in the US Invasion of the Iraq. She however finds that these intimate psychological portrayals of extreme situations lack well written characterisations of the protagonists one is made to empathise with, though she does laud the actors for their performances of these roles finding the fault in the writing of the show. To her dialogue is cumbersome and cliché and the scenes away from the battlefield are superfluous and needlessly stretch the show's runtime thereby sacrificing a lot of its watchability. Ryan observes the tone of the show to at times be highly propagandistic making the show itself almost feel like

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

for either the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

or a "narrowly defined vision of

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

" whose ability to create any kind of poignant psychological effect however is foiled by the show's generic and predictable writing outside of combat scenes. According to her the show at times attempts to create empathy for the

Iraqis Iraqis ( ar, العراقيون, ku, گه‌لی عیراق, gelê Iraqê) are people who originate from the country of Iraq. Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, ...

and their experience of the invasion and subsequent massacres. These attempts fall short based on a lack of development for any single Iraqi character; a quality they supposedly share with most characters in the show.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Long Way Home, The (miniseries) 2010s American drama television miniseries 2017 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings English-language television shows Iraq War in television National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming War television series