Into The Trenches (2017)
Director Jacob Fadley becomes the center of this deeply personal documentary that explores the complex nature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a veteran struggling with feelings of self-hatred, Jacob begins to unearth his own personal ordeals and uncovers the prevalence of childhood trauma among members of the military. INTO THE TRENCHES sides with a new movement among psychologists and counselors that see posttraumatic stress not as a disorder but as a natural phenomenon of being exposed to highly stressing events.
Taking a more observational approach with its visual style, Into the Trenches strays clear of talking heads and instead chooses to simply let the audience draw their conclusions from following Jacob’s journey. Director of Photography, Tanmay Chowdhary, draws upon the soviet filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky for inspiration. Though musical scores are scarce in the film, award-winning composer Marco Valerio Antonini delivers an impressive emotional piece at the conclusion that perfectly reflects the feeling of quiet struggle prevalent throughout the documentary. (24 min.)