Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025) Movie Script
1
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.
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.