Original subtitles

Crossing the river here from Guatemala into Mexico,

and the migrants that we're traveling with,

including this young Honduran right in front of us,

says he doesn't have the money.

It only costs a few cents to cross the river on the raft.

But he says he needs to save the money for the journey.

So we're walking across, and it's not easy.

Gracias.

Imagine being 16 years old,

leaving home on your own,

and trying to make it all the way from Honduras to the United States.

Anthony, there's all these dangers.

This is not the normal kind of thing

for a kid like you to be doing.

Anthony, be careful, okay?

And we hope to see you again.

Okay.

Okay.

Were you here when the bomb hit?

Thank you. I'm very sorry about this.

What do you think about this war?

Where will you go now?

It's hard to see this.

We've just got some breaking news to bring you.

And Brent Renaud, an American photojournalist,

has been killed while working in Ukraine.

US photographer Juan Arredondo

was also injured in the attack.

Brent Renaud was tragically killed.

We applaud the work that he was doing.

Um, the bravery with which he did it.

It is a devastating loss to journalism today.

You know, he and his brother, Craig,

have done so many documentaries.

Have you been able to talk to Craig

or any of his loved ones back here?

Yeah, I talked to Craig,

and he's dealing with some pretty heavy stuff right now

in terms of dealing with getting Brent back.

So...

So, uh...

he just kept repeating it, you know.

"We've been shot. We've been shot. We've been shot."

And, you know, um...

And I said, "Where's Brent?"

And he said, "He's been shot too.

"Um, I've been pulled away into a separate vehicle.

Um, he's still there."

And I said, "Where was he shot?"

And, um, I said,

"Did he have his vest on?" And he said, "Yes."

And then I said, "Was he shot in the vest or the face?"

Um, and Juan paused. He didn't answer me.

Um, and I knew right then Brent was gone.

Check, check.

My name is Brent Renaud. This is my brother, Craig.

I would like to talk a little about where we come from.

As kids growing up in Arkansas,

my brother and I were alone a lot.

My dad was a traveling salesman.

He sold belt buckles, chewing tobacco,

and NASCAR memorabilia to truck stop owners

all around the South.

And my mom was either in school trying to get her degree

or working some job.

I was into fishing, motorbikes, and shooting guns.

Typical Southern boy stuff.

Only I wasn't typical at all.

I was autistic, and, unfortunately,

none of the adults around me had ever even heard of that.

Maybe not surprisingly, besides with my brother,

I struggled to make friends.

In my mind, I have been a photographer

since I was ten years old,

when my dad gave me his 1974 Minolta camera.

I loved the black and silver design.

I thought it looked like the kind of camera

photographers used in the movies.

It's just so fast, somebody's gone.

Right here, you can see where the bullet went in.

Um, I just... I know this is what Brent would be doing.

You know, Brent just always felt it was important not to hide

from the reality of what violence and war does to people.

So I know he would have wanted me to film this.

My brother Brent was two years older than me.

When we were little,

I can remember following Brent around everywhere.

I always looked up to him.

When Brent told me that he wanted to be

a documentary filmmaker,

I had to be there alongside him.

For the next 20 years,

I followed my older brother

to the most dangerous places in the world.

Four Arkansas soldiers are killed in Iraq.

We're joined by the Renaud brothers.

That's Craig and Brent Renaud,

Arkansas filmmakers who've been embedded

with the Arkansas National Guard

through their entire tour in Iraq.

- Whoa! - That one hit right there!

They're locking in on us.

Brent filmed on the front line of conflicts

all around the world.

But what he cared about the most

were the people caught in the middle.

You know.

Look.

So tell me, what are we seeing here? What is all this?

And do you go to school?

No.

So we're on our way to visit a family

who's in hiding in this neighborhood.

They're in hiding because the mother accused

the 18th Street Gang of kidnapping,

and some of the gang members were put in jail.

And the gang said that they were gonna kill the entire family.

So we're gonna go to their house and talk to them.

Yup.

Hola.

Were you trying to go to the United States?

Is that what you were trying to do?

You know, there's a lot of kids like you

in the United States.

Many of them are telling stories like yours.

They say they're afraid to come back here

because it's dangerous,

that they could be killed by the gangs.

Some people in the United States don't believe them.

Are you hiding from the gang now?

Are you worried about your lives?

What will happen if they find you?

He was obviously shot while he was driving,

and then he crashed into this SUV here.

Brent was very intense, and quiet.

And he was not the type of person

to talk about his experiences,

like the time he was arrested in Somalia

and beaten by the guards.

About the only time you would see Brent at ease

is when he was with his dog, Chai.

♪ Oh, this could be the last time ♪

Chai and I have been getting in the truck

and taking road trips since she was very little.

♪ I miss you, darling ♪

♪ More and more every day ♪

The diagnosis of autism

tells you very little about a person.

I can be calm as a Zen monk

in a firefight or a disaster zone.

But for years, a cocktail party in Brooklyn

was absolutely terrifying.

Chai is my best friend and my therapy companion.

Come, Chai, come! Come on!

Come on, puppy!

Good puppy, good puppy, good puppy!

It's hard to imagine a more cruel event

than the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th.

And if you had asked me before the earthquake

if things could have gotten much worse in Haiti,

I would have said, "I can't see how."

Most of the people

right now living on the street

because people are trying to survive.

Okay?

Did you get anything?

Filmmaker and journalist Brent Renaud lost his life

documenting the horrors of the battlefield in Ukraine.

Tributes immediately poured in for the award-winning filmmaker.

He was traveling at the time with a photojournalist, Juan Arredondo,

who barely escaped with his own life.

So glad you're alive, man.

- I'm so glad. - I'm so sorry.

It's okay.

I can't get this out of my head.

- I know. - I can't get this...

I can't sleep.

I've still got his blood on my fingers

because I tried to stop the bleeding.

I know. There's nothing you could have done.

I-I-I mean, I can still feel

those bullets and the sounds and...

I thought at one point, it was like, this is it.

I'm-I'm-I'm gone.

And I-I kept, you know, touching Brent, touching Brent.

And when I woke up, I...

I saw his... He was bleeding on his neck.

So I grabbed it, and I tried to stop it.

And I could see him mumbling some things.

But I kept asking the driver

- just to go and go and go. - Right.

And, uh...

Yeah, I just...

That's... That's the stuff that I can't get out of my head.

I know.

I'm so sorry.

Don't say that. It's okay.

I don't want you to say that. I've accepted it.

- I miss my friend. - I miss him so much.

I miss him so much.

Malik, what do you... Describe what you see.

I mean, this is... I don't know. I can't describe it.

What does he remember about what happened?

He saw it, he said.

He said warm, very hot.

It's the shrapnel that went and injured all her.

You know?

It's okay to film?

My name is Brent.

- Brent? - Yeah.

- Can I ask you something? - Yeah.

Please do.

I will do that, man.

You're very honest and very faithful and very...

The way you hold that camera, the way you hold that camera,

it is not just you're just holding it.

You're doing it from your heart.

I am, man. I am.

It really means a lot, dawg, you know what I mean?

We can change this world, dawg.

You and I, we can change this world if we wanted to.

- Yeah. - Believe that.

We're now finally crossing the border

from Ukraine back into Poland.

And my brother's in the van in front of us,

so finally getting him out of the war

and taking him back home.

♪♪

If I could ask for your cooperation

in deplaning today, we are taking Brent Renaud home

on his last flight to his home in Arkansas.

He recently lost his life in Ukraine.

We have the honor of taking him home.

And he's being escorted by his brother.

We honor him today. Thank you.

♪ Through many dangers ♪

♪ Toils and snares ♪

♪ I have ♪

♪ Already ♪

♪ Come ♪

♪ 'Twas grace ♪

♪ That brought me ♪

♪ Safe so far ♪

♪ And it's grace ♪

♪ Grace will lead me ♪

♪ Home ♪

My name is Jon Alpert,

and my deepest respect to Brent's family.

When Brent was a young man, he came to me

and he came to my wife, Keiko.

We run a little small TV center in New York.

And Brent wanted to learn how to use his camera

to do all the things that he's being honored here today for.

We went to Iraq together. We went to Afghanistan.

And Brent went time and time again,

putting his life on the line

to teach us what war is really like.

This is one of the craters

created by a US bomb.

He's showing how the women were struggling

to get away as they were injured.

Sir, can you tell me what happened to this child?

Can you tell him we hope he feels better

and gets out of here soon?

Barehanded...

armed only with his camera,

in the most dangerous places in the world,

he risked his life over and over for you,

for us, for America.

How you all doing?

My name is Derek Brown.

I didn't write anything.

Um, I spoke with Craig,

and I told him I was just gonna talk from the heart.

I come from the West Side of Chicago.

Um, I come from a dark area.

I met Craig first.

Then he introduced me to his brother, Brent.

And I can remember like it was yesterday,

the first time I seen them.

Small guy.

It was like he was like a dove that came in the room.

But his presence was of an elephant.

Over the last decade, more people have been killed in the city of Chicago

by gun violence than US soldiers fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Most of these shootings involve teenagers.

How many bodies? You know?

It's only one body.

And he was stuffed in the garbage can.

Jamarion come from a block where five people got shot.

- On this one block? - On this one block.

Within this last couple of months.

Each one of these kids I'm picking up,

they would grow up hating each other

if I didn't go in these different parts of the community

and pull them together.

- One, two, three. - Hut!

- One, two, three. - Hut!

So when I point at you,

I need you to say your name loud and clear.

My name is Demarus Johnson!

My name is David Johnson!

My name is Darion Carter.

My name is Derek Carter.

The reason I want y'all to speak up,

because I want you to be heard because y'all are somebody.

Y'all count for somebody.

One day, y'all might speak for the world.

The place that I came from,

I always felt, and everybody in my community felt,

that nobody cared.

But meeting guys like these,

great men of God...

gave us light.

And thanks again, Brent.

I met Brent and Craig some 19 years ago

up in Clarksville, Arkansas,

as the unit I was assigned to

was preparing for their deployment

for a yearlong tour in Baghdad, Iraq.

Brent was incredibly selfless.

His work and his life

was profound and impacted millions.

They weren't just embedded reporters.

They were one of us.

We're about to head north into Iraq.

Be polite, be professional,

and be prepared to kill.

Hey, be advised we got a vehicle coming up

with their lights flashing.

That's Iraqi police.

Stay on them, Jones.

Stand back at a distance.

Slow down. Dim the lights.

Goddamn!

Contact right!

Contact right!

RPG!

Keep going! Keep going!

Reload! Reload!

Jones, watch behind you! Move!

Watch my back! I'm getting out!

We got another IED! We need to get out of here!

Ready.

Aim.

Fire!

Ready. Aim.

Fire!

This is perhaps one of the most difficult things

I've ever had to do, but it must be done.

We must remember Lyle for who he was

and what he died for.

He died protecting us.

Thank you, Lyle.

And I mean it when I say this.

Brent did more good for humanity

in his 50 years on this earth

than most of us could hope to achieve in 50 lifetimes.

May peace be with you and peace be with us all.

♪♪