Most people are familiar with war films like “Saving Private Ryan” that show the lives of soldiers on the battlefield, but battlefield dramas don’t allow us to fully understand the military experience of soldiers. However, there have also been a number of Hollywood movies showing what happens after soldiers return home and begin readjusting to civilian life. Many soldiers returning home prefer not to discuss their experiences of war, attempting to readjust to civilian life while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) privately. Movies that show what happens after soldiers return home may be the most valuable way to understand the military experience.
A new partnership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) is trying to help this cause through a new film series. The UW School of Nursing is hosting the film series in partnership with the UW Arts Institute, the UW School of Medicine, and UW Health. Featuring the series called “Through the Hollywood Looking Glass: PTSD and Beyond,” UW will be showing three movies on their campus for three consecutive Sundays.
The three movies will include:
“The Best Years of Our Lives” – An acclaimed 1946 drama about soldiers returning home from World War II, one of the first eye openers to Americans about issues of PTSD.
“The Deer Hunter” – A 1978 film epic from Michael Cimino, starring Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken who play two young men from a small industrial town who go to Vietnam.
“Least Among Saints” – A more recent indie drama film from 2012 where a troubled soldier returning from the Iraq War befriends a young boy. The drama is from UW adjunct professor James Hirsch who will be taking part in a post-show discussion.
UW’s School of Nursing is in full support of the new film series, hoping to inform more people about the reality of our soldiers who struggle with PTSD and learning to adjust to civilian life again. Dean of the UW School of Nursing, Katharyn May, thinks this is an important topic for showing the unseen parts of readjusting to civilian life. When a soldier loses a leg, everyone can see it, but when a soldier suffers from PTSD, only close family or maybe even no one at all knows about it.
All of the UW partners involved in this film series hope to continue the film program by looking at other areas of health care that have been portrayed in film.
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