What a Movie Should Do

A movie should be more than a 90+ minute experience. Its affect should last beyond the credits. Most movies today are made for just the box office and DVD sales and they don't do much outside of being shown. I would argue most documentaries don't go as far as they could to get their point across and to continue their impact. I have only seen one movie that I would say does more than just has screenings. The Dry Land. A Sundance favorite and was one of the best one I saw. I would say 'liked,' but it's really hard to say I liked this movie because in reality, I really didn't. It was hard to watch, emotions were sucked out of me, and it was not a fun topic to see laid out. There were also a couple explicit scenes the audience didn't need to see (just to get that warning out there). However, this was also one of the movies that has stayed with me since seeing it.

First of all, the issue in the movie: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1981284,00.html

Even though the military has been making steps to help lower the number and save men and women from committing suicide, it's not working how they want it to. Knowing this, filmmaker Ryan Pier Williams decided to make a movie about one man and give an accurate picture of what dealing with PTSD is like.

Williams made this movie for a specific purpose. He wanted it to be seen so people can act on it, which in all fairness other documentarians and filmmakers like this want to do as well. This movie is different though. Yes it got into Sundance, but that wasn't necessarily his goal. His ultimate objective was to travel around military bases showing his movie so soldiers can talk about it. If they can see an example of what it looks like and the steps they can take to help themselves, they will be in much better hands. I've never heard of a movie that went beyond the screen like this one does. For Williams, it's more than just a movie. It's an opportunity to show soldiers, their family and friends a picture of one man with PTSD and to spur on conversation.

After the screening at Sundance, Williams said he ideally wanted to release the movies to theaters mid to late summer because that was when a lot of soldiers would come back from fighting the war. The limited release date is July 30 of this year.

This is a real topic that needs to be out to the public and out in the open so people can begin realizing the effects and ramifications it can have on a soldier and his or her family. It's a movie made to provoke real change aside from the 92 minutes you spend watching it.