Thank you for Your Service (2017)

So notice that I put the 2017 at the end of the title. I had to do this, because last year a documentary of the same name came out.  What’s even more interesting is when I tried to look up info for that documentary, the only info I found was for this movie, so last year, I went to see that picture thinking that I was going to see a movie that stars Miles Teller and Amy Schumer, but instead I saw a pretty good documentary that pretty much tells the same story about the aftermath of those who served.

Both movies focused particularity on those whose wounds are only in the inside. No physical trauma that anyone could see. Miles Teller’s character particularly seem to be in good health, both in body and in the brain, but when you go through war like he did his head can’t be in a good place and as hard as he tried to be normal everyone noticed that he’s not the same, especially his wife who tried her hardest to understand the change by trying to get him to talk about it.

Teller is on the poster in order to get those butts in the seats (Amy Schumer, in a rare dramatic role, could have done the same thing but her role was too small for that). He’s the only real star in a movie which is about three marines. the other two are a Samoan who wants to go back to war but can’t cause the doctors will not clear him because he’s shell shocked. They have medicine that will help with his condition so he can be stable enough in his new role as a father, but the movie shows a focus on how hard it is for the troops coming back to get the medical and mental treatment they need.

The documentary with the same name talked greatly about this problem too, just how strangely Ill prepared the military seems to be at handling the mental issues that come as a causality of war, and from the doc’s prospective, it’s more about the military not admitting that  the troops need help.

That leads us to the last Marine, who basically comes home to nothing and not even his buddies were enough to help him through it.

Both movies complement each other very very well  and show a real process of what it’s like to be the one who comes home in one piece (sort of) when other don’t, and what that survivor’s guilt can do that to someone.

Thank You for Your Service seems to be the type of movie used to empathize with the problem and get a better understanding of it. For that it’s a good concept done well.