Tattooed Under Fire
A look at River City Tattoo Parlor in Killeen, Texas — home to Fort Hood, America’s largest military base — where war-bound and returning soldiers go under the needle and confess their deepest secrets and fears.
Tattooed Under Fire is a unique, intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning U.S. soldiers as they go under the tattoo needle: openly expressing their pride, sharing their secrets, and confessing their fears. The tattoos cross lines of gender, class, and political affinity, revealing the inner lives of young men and women as they live through the horrors of the Iraq war.
The film’s narrative moves from the early expectations and excitement of 18 and 20 year-olds through cynicism and anger to a sense of a psychological aftermath that will never be erased. Each soldier’s story is an evocative, poignant, and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war.