It started as a New York Times profile piece on members of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division back in 2010. It’s now an intimate and deeply emotional feature film, "Father Soldier Son" on Netflix.
New York Times reporters Catrin Einhorn and Leslye Davis decided to spend more time, 10 years in total, telling another story about the division’s sergeant first class, Brian Eisch, and his two young sons.
“I think that his boys were really the thing that made him extra compelling. He had these two young sons at home and he was their only parent. So when he decided to deploy to Afghanistan, he made a really big sacrifice,” said Davis.
Einhorn and Davis captured some extremely emotional moments in their lives at that time, including Eisch losing part of his leg to amputation after being injured in the line of duty. The film shows how Eisch changes after that event. But the biggest impact may be seen in Eisch’s oldest son, Isaac.
“When we met Isaac when he was 12, he was so taken with his father. He idolized his father,” said Einhorn.
But he was already thinking, 'I don't know if I want to follow in his path.' And watching that evolve over the years until he really took the stance that he didn't, and he made a decision and he didn't. And then seeing what happened after that,” she said.
Davis said while parts of their story sparked joy, others were tough to experience and document.
“There was a lot of joy that we experienced in being part of their lives and seeing some of the good things that happened to them, but certainly some of the more tragic things that happened to them which were extremely difficult for the family were also hard for us to document,” she said.
"We really saw a deepening into a story about how values are passed down from one generation to the next,” said Einhorn.