Well acted effort from the main characters, and a fine script for this biography film.
When you have PTSD you are stuck in time. And the feeling of being stuck and unable to escape the situation, is accurately described in the psychological struggle of the veterans.
Trauma rips you out of your safe reality, where you have grown up with dreams, goals, and appreciation of the small good things in life. Every one of these things has been destroyed in a blink of an eye for these soldiers.
Now their life is put in a pause-mode, where they relieve the trauma feeling over and over and over again. And it eats them away, until they realize they has to deal with it.
The fight is not direct as in war, but they now have to fight for their sanity in a society that stigmatizes PTSD.
Their commanding officer belittles PTSD and the soldiers that had committed suicide. The healthcare is scarce or completely absent. And the bureaucracy makes it almost impossible to get help. This happens all the while their mental health is deteriorating and their family life is falling apart...
No wonder a lot of veterans give into suicide!
Trauma is grim, horrifying and leaves you more scattered than ever. It is a state of confusion, helplessness and horror.
Most people will experience trauma and PTSD during their lives, not just veterans. But many, comfort themselves with the thought that it wont happen to them. The effect of trauma is very difficult to understand, and therefore difficult to treat. Therefore it is of utter importance that films like these are still being made, and stories like these is told, until we get better to understand, treat and comfort everyone that experience trauma. Even yourself.
