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★★★★
Directed by: #LewisDGilbert
Starring: #MarkStanton
PTSD is a thing right? You know that thing people got after being in the Korean war or after watching The Blair Witch Project (it’s a goddamn good movie, stop saying it’s not you heathens) or like me, after that one time I went into a KFC, chicken should not be in a bucket and what the hell is a boneless banquet? It seems the least banquet like product ever.
The point being PTSD can strike anyone over anything, but what if you had to face that PTSD every day? Most people are able to separate themselves from there stress and work on recovery, I mean I never go near a KFC anymore, that’s my recovery, some see a therapist, each to their own, but if escape is not an option, how long is it until you lose your mind?
The Veteran is the story of a man who can do nothing to escape his trauma, we see him in an office plagued by war flashbacks, his clear #PTSD plagues him, typing on his keyboard triggers the memory of gun fire, movements of the mouse make him think of bombs flying through the air, it’s all very stressful, but what office job isn’t.
Director Lewis D Gilbert highlights the impact that this trauma is having on his mind by the heightened level of sound, its cutting and jarring, there is no gentle introduction and gradual volume increase, like a jump scene in a horror film as the baddie hops out from behind a wall/door/bean bag chair, we are startled into paying attention, into feeling the same stress as the characters on screen.
But this also serves as a reminder of the harsh reality of PTSD, how is engulfs and consumes the human brain, unforgiving and demanding it paralyzes its victim, and this cannot be more apparent as our main man grips at his desk, unable to move from him own fear.
The Veteran is a short but interesting investigation into the human mind, and although clearly on a shoestring budget, it does everything it says on the tin, filling us with the anxiety our leading man is feeling but a level of empathy for anyone who suffers from this mental trauma...now I’m off to throw my own banquet, KFC not included.
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