Of Men and War

Of Men and War film image

Screenings

2015 Season
New York

A secret battle consumes a dozen combat veterans long after their return from the front. The warriors in Of Men and War have come safely home to the United States after serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they are unable to escape the battlefield that rages in their own minds. Ghosts and echoes of the war fill their lives. Threats seem to spring out from everywhere. Wives, children, and parents bear the brunt of their fractured spirits, struggling to help their loved ones regain their lives. At The Pathway Home, a first-of-its-kind PTSD therapy center, the film's protagonists resolve to end the ongoing destruction. Their therapist helps the young men forge meaning from their trauma. Over years of therapy, Of Men and War explores their grueling paths to recovery, as they attempt to make peace with themselves, their past, and their families.

Filmmaker(s): 
Laurent Bécue-Renard
Country of Production: 
France/Switzerland
Year: 
2015
142m
Language(s): 
In English
Genre: 
Documentary
Filmmaker Bio(s): 
Laurent Bécue-Renard
Director

Laurent Bécue-Renard is a French director and producer. In 1995 and 1996, while living in Sarajevo during the siege, he served as editor-in-chief of the magazine Sarajevo Online and published a series of short stories called The Sarajevo Chronicles. Shifting focus to young men returning from battles in faraway lands, Bécue-Renard continues to explore war’s psychological aftermath with Of Men and War, the second volume of his Genealogy of Wrath trilogy.

Film Website: 
Of Men and War film website
Human Rights Watch report cover image

In 2014 Human Rights Watch documented the stories of veterans struggling with drug and alcohol dependence, many of whom suffered from PTSD and other “invisible injuries.” Human Rights Watch found that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other US agencies involved in helping veterans return home serve them best with programs that incorporate harm reduction principles that “meet veterans where they are”—providing housing, drug treatment, overdose prevention, and other services without judgment, proof of sobriety and other barriers. 

To learn more on this topic visit HRW.org