Unseen Scars

Poignant and loaded with tension, Carl Mackenzie’s short film Unseen Scars is an emotional deep dive into the haunting reality faced by many veterans trying to readjust to civilian life following time served in the military.

Andrew Lee Potts plays the lead role of James, a vet currently struggling to get his life in order after serving in Iraq. Following an arrest for drunk driving and other offences, he attends therapy at the behest of his partner. His therapist (Michael McKell) has also been affected by the misery of war and does his best to get James to open up about his struggle.

What strengthens Unseen Scars as a piece about PTSD and the challenges faced by vets is the authenticity of the story. Mackenzie himself has witnessed the impact on a close friend, leading him to spend months of time researching and interviewing veterans and their families to do justice to their stories in this short film. The story, through James’s lens, manages to touch on many of the regrettably common consequences of warfare, such as suicide, alcoholism, depression, and ruined relationships.

It’s a heavy movie, and Mackenzie and his crew do well to ensure the production is as polished as it can be. Excellent grading, sharp editing, and a heightened score immerse the viewer into a state of arrest for the entire running time. There are also some great visual moments, such as James’s silhouette atop a pile of rubble or him sitting on the ground in an abandoned factory.

The performances are strong, particularly the therapy scenes where Michael McKell and Andrew Lee Potts engage in a tell-all bout of hard truths about living with trauma. The fragility of their lives lay bare for these supposed toughened soldiers, reacting to the spiderweb of anguish that serving and knowing those who serve can cause.

Whilst Unseen Scars is a powerful and moving film, its story and themes are going to be familiar to viewers. Stories of PTSD and the impact of war on soldiers have been made into a plethora of movies, many of which are also profound and stand as mainstays of great cinema (The Deer Hunter, The Hurt Locker, Brothers). 

That being said, the tragic reality is that these stories need to be told repeatedly. Checking in on those vulnerable to traumas in their past is essential and the human connection we all need feels ever more threatened in a world of digital interactions and socialising. Unseen Scars is a moving contribution to this ongoing discourse.