Produced by Hybrid Films for A&E Television Networks, UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU! is a funny and poignant cinema verite look at how and why young people volunteer for the most elite branch of the US military, the US Marine Corps. The Marines need to enlist 40,000 young men and women every year to keep their fighting forces at full strength. This is the story of how the modern military sells soldiering to today's kids. And these young people will become tomorrow's fighters on the front lines of America's new foreign policy.

Shot in the summer and autumn of 2002 (after Afghanistan and before Iraq), the film follows the struggles of two "rookie" recruiters at a US Marine Corps recruiting station in Queens, NY as they work desperately to hone their "selling" techniques and make their monthly quota of enlistees. The recruiters' greatest obstacles are their own inexperience, protective parents and poorly educated applicants. Their sales pitch is partly patriotic but mostly focused on the potential for personal development and material benefits in the Marines.

The film also delves into the coming-of-age stories of five young people as they struggle to overcome their doubts about joining, meet the enlistment standards, and survive the notoriously difficult Marine boot camp. These kids are mostly immigrants from tough neighborhoods and often-tumultuous homes. Through joining, they are hoping to find opportunities they don't see anywhere else, escape their homes and in some cases find a new family. But of course other challenges await them if they get in.

Documentary, English, USA, Video, NTSC

89 Minutes

Film Festival Screenings:

Rotterdam International Film Festival 2004

Antelope Valley International Film Festival 2004