Of Men and War

The human cost of America's recent wars is powerfully portrayed in filmmaker Laurent Bécue-Renard's documentary, which focuses on patients at The Pathway Home, a residential therapy facility in the Napa Valley where Vietnam vet Fred Gusman and his staff conduct individual and group sessions with soldiers and medics suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of their service in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shot in fly-on-the-wall style over the course of five years, Of Men and War gradually focuses on a number of patients who are encouraged to break the self-erected walls of emotional resistance to their feelings—releasing a mixture of grief, rage, and anxiety that could take the form of angry outbursts, helpless weeping, or stunned silence. Bécue-Renard also follows the men on outings or, in some cases, on their return home, where they struggle to rebuild their lives with wives and children. Of Men and War is often painful to watch; PTSD is not an easily treated condition, and therapeutic success may be only partial and also extremely fragile. However, the film is not primarily concerned with the specific psychological methods employed by Pathway; rather, it offers an incisive and often disturbing portrait of individuals who are so scarred by their combat experience that they are unable to function in the civilian world—men who are now engaged in a fight that may be as difficult as any they faced on the battlefield. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)