(Miles
Teller plays
Adam Schumann)
What distinguishes this film is
how quietly realistic the movie is. (Review
by Patrick Compton -8)
The actor who so memorably personified
anguish as an abused young drummer in Whiplash,
now finds himself in an equally uncomfortable place in Jason Hall’s directorial
debut about American soldiers trying to cope with post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) after a tour of duty in Iraq.
Miles Teller plays Adam Schumann, a
once-confident sergeant who specialised in sniffing out hidden bombs on the
war-torn streets of Baghdad. Once home, he finds it difficult to exorcise his
combat demons, particularly his guilt over the devastating injury of a friend
for which he blames himself. His two best friends, Solo (Beulah Koale) and Will
(Joe Cole), also struggle to overcome various problems that threaten to unhinge
them.
PTSD is a problem that only began to be
recognised during World War 2, and there has been no shortage of movies on the
subject since then. But what distinguishes this film, adapted from David
Finkel’s 2013 non-fiction account of soldiers returning from war, is how
quietly realistic the movie is.
Hall, who wrote the screenplay for Clint
Eastwood’s very different American Sniper,
is determined to remain true to the real feelings and experiences of his
subjects. As a result we never sense we are viewing actors playing soldiers, or
that a Hollywood plotline is overwhelming a more nuanced reality.
What we do see very clearly is that America
is largely incapable of handling the special needs of people who have
experienced levels of trauma that ordinary folks back home can barely
comprehend. The scenes that detail the wholly inadequate counselling available
for returning soldiers are numbingly powerful.
Although Teller dominates the film as Adam,
he receives excellent support from Koale, in particular, as well as Haley
Bennett as Saskia, his loving wife who struggles to get through to him.
In its quiet, relatively unshowy way, this
ironically titled movie offers an important insight into a country that can
barely rouse itself to care about men who fight overseas wars in its name.
Thank
You For Your Service opened on January 5 at
Gateway. - Patrick Compton
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