Just A Grunt sent us a link from the Marietta Daily Journal about a young film maker, Leslie Lugosi, who wrote a script and filmed a movie entitled “Listen” about a Vietnam Veteran who becomes a victim of Post Traumatic Stress year after he’s discharged. I can imagine that the film is a typical Hollywood portrayal of the PTS-affected veteran. Lugosi admits a thin history with PTS;
“My father served in Vietnam, and he was adversely affected by the war,” she said.
And her technical advisor on the film? He only provided advice on terrain.
With the help of Master Sgt. Gerald Edwards, a Vietnam veteran who served as military adviser for the film, Lugosi made the backwoods of Canton look like the jungle wilderness of Vietnam.
It seems to me that if she wanted to make a film about PTS, she would have had an advisor who could tell her about PTS, not a guy who transform a patch of woods into a jungle.
Her star is no help, either;
Jon H. Costales, a Fayetteville resident, played the lead role. For Costales, who studied acting in college, playing a person with PTSD was a learning experience.
“In a way it was challenging,” he said. “Someone who had trauma years before can have emotional scars suppressed for years.”
Being a part of the film was a good experience, said Costales.
“Hopefully, people who watch it will become aware of what soldiers with PTSD are facing and realize it’s something going on now and should be addressed,” he said.
It’s a good thing that actors are smarter than the rest of us so they can teach us stuff.
There may be something realistic to this film and I applaud young Leslie on her efforts, but excuse me if I’m more than a little skeptical about the project based on the information in the article and this “teaser” from Lugosi;
Teaser for “LISTEN” from Leslie Lugosi on Vimeo.
Here we go again with the Mad Dog Express…
You think a civilian can’t make a good movie about a Vietnam Vet with PTSD?
Next thing you’ll say is that Donald Trump couldn’t turn in an Oscar worthy performance about breast cancer. Or that a white kid from northern Minnesota couldn’t produce a stirring memoir about MLK.
Remember John, for liberals it isn’t the finished product that counts, it’s how hard you tried that should determine your grade.
I’m looking at the film this way:
What are its production values?
Is there catharsis by the end?
Ms. Lugosi (any relation to Bela?) is interested in PTSD. That’s pretty cool. Problem being, while the outward signs are similar, PTSD is different for every person experiencing it. How does one make a film about it without the audience wanting to belly up to the bar and downing a fifth by the time the credits roll around.
Maybe she’ll be interested filming how folks with PTSD integrate into society and no one knows they’re there.
There are 43 VA-related centers in Ohio, including 5 hospitals and two outpatient clinics, one of the latter of which is located in…. wait for it……. Canton.
One might be forgiven for thinking that the person responsible for the film might have taken the time to visit one of these locations in order to, you know, do some research on the material. Unless, of course, there is an agenda in play and the film maker(s) don’t want facts to get in the way of their pre-conceived storyline.
Full list here:
http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/state.asp?STATE=OH
NB: It took me all of two minutes on a search engine to find this data. I wonder how long she spent cooking up her own idea of what the story should tell?
It’s Canton, Georgia, not Ohio. Marietta is just down the road. This is a military-friendly area, for the most part, and there is a VA medical center further down the road in Atlanta.
Oh. Never mind.
What bothers me is YET ANOTHER vietnam story and yet there is nothing to show what an incopotent racist bastard LBJ was or how he basically fucked pretty much everyone to promote his “Great Society” (which we’re still dealing with) or how he mismanaged the shit out of a war. Imagine that. A liberal president is incompetent and leads to the death of 58,000 Americans, but the country becomes more LIBERAL because of it. How about that. Un-Fucking-Believable.
Unfortunately, Albert Snyder is contributing to this misperception:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/03/us.westboro.father/index.html?hpt=T2
“You have too many soldiers and Marines coming back with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and they (the Westboro protesters) are going to go to the wrong funeral and the guns are going to go off.”
Sorry for your loss(es) Mr. Snyder, but that was some ignorant shit.
PTSD (and Suicide) are the hot button issues making politicians famous and Non-Profits rich. No one likes to talk about that and no one dares correct the story, for fear of sounding (or being accused of being) callous and uncaring.
One side of the aisle, with their Hollywood propagandists, love the PTSD storyline, because they can simultaneously demean Veterans and prove they “support” Vets. They offer cash for Veterans to just admit they are victims. And when they don’t get the numbers they wanted, they decided to remove the burden of proof.
Newsflash: Veterans are not victims! Everyone is changed by war. Some people are changed more than others. Some learn how the changes to be positive in the “real world.” Some need outside assistance to get back on their feet. But this victimization of Veterans does not help those with PTSD. It makes those that need a hand up less likely to accept it.
And here’s another one for you: Veterans are not more violent towards Our Citizens. Veterans with PTSD are not dangerous. The safest place to be in America is sitting next to a Veteran, who is more likely and more able to protect you from violence, than one of intellectual class who attack Veterans with the “violent Veteran” propaganda.
This is not a rant against TAH. I’m just sick of the press, Hollywood, and politicians playing up the PTSD issue while sliding a knife in our backs.
It is not a denial of the realities of PTSD or the need for Veterans to have access to dealing with it, but I’m sick of Non-profits & politicians (and others) profiteering off of shi’ite they don’t understand and truly don’t care about.
Cut out the politicians, the idiot media, and bureacrats. Bring together Veterans to sort out this mess, and develop the solutions.
Damn, does the main character go “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?” and try to stick up for an underage prostitute too?