ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Moral Injuries

No Man’s Land: Welcome

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“Sometimes you need to close your eyes and start over to see clearly.”

No Man’s Land, from director Conor Allyn, is at one level a story about borders, but at a deeper level it is about the importance of welcoming the stranger in our midst.

Jake Allyn as “Jackson Greer” in Conor Allyn’s NO MAN’S LAND. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

The Greer family has a small cattle ranch along the Rio Grande, but south of the border wall. They have narcos, rustlers, and immigrants who come across their land. The father Bill (Frank Grillo) has to take his passport just to go to the hardware store. Son Jackson (Jake Allyn, who also wrote the script) is a promising pitcher preparing for a tryout with the Yankees.

One night, hearing activity outside, Bill and his two sons go out with weapons, worried about losing cattle. Instead it is a small group of people looking to enter the US illegally, led by Gustavo (Jorge A. Jimenez) who is bringing his son to live with him in the US. In the chaos of the confrontation, Jackson’s brother is stabbed and Jackson shoots and kills Gustavo’s son. Bill seeks to take the blame, claiming self-defense, but the Texas Ranger (George Lopez) investigating sees through it. When he goes to talk with Jackson, Jackson crosses the river into Mexico.

Jorge A. Jiménez as “Gustavo” in Conor Allyn’s NO MAN’S LAND. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

Jackson is dealing with the guilt of taking the boy’s life. When Jackson found the boy’s wallet, it had a picture of the boy in his baseball uniform. Clearly, Jackson understands that they held things in common. But Gustavo is dealing with anger and seeks revenge. Jackson finds himself trying to avoid both the law and Gustavo. But he also wants to go to the boy’s hometown to seek forgiveness and redemption. Along the way he encounters those who would take advantage of him, as well as those who will take him in.

Jackson learns that there is much more to Mexico than he has known. Most importantly he discovers that there are people who welcome him, even though they don’t know him and he cannot speak their language. As a stranger he is often totally at the mercy of the people he meets. And he meets some very welcoming people.

Meanwhile back in Texas, his mother (Andie MacDowell) reminds Bill of the times they would take food and water to the river for those coming across. He responds, “It’s different now”, to which she responds, “but we’re different.” The contrast of the welcome Jackson finds and his parents’ choice to no longer be welcoming serves to underscore the divide we may have within us about welcoming strangers or turning away.

That same spirit plays out in the storyline between Jackson’s desire for redemption and Gustavo’s seeking revenge. When the face off arrives, Gustavo remembers a lesson he gave his son as they were walking that deadly night. He had his son close his eyes and count to ten. When he opened them, he could see better. For Gustavo, for the Greer family, for the viewers, a pause may give all of us a chance to see more clearly when we think of issues around welcoming the stranger.

George Lopez as “Ramírez”, Frank Grillo as “Bill Greer”, Andie McDowell as “Monica” and Jake Allyn as “Jackson Greer” in Conor Allyn’s NO MAN’S LAND. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

Jesus says in Matthew 25: “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’” No Man’s Land lives out that teaching.

No Man’s Land is available at select theaters where open and on VOD.

The Long Road Home Ep. 3: War Challenges

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Captain Troy Denomy has no clue his unit is about to be ambushed (Photo courtesy National Geographic).

When we last left the members of the First Calvary Division, Fort Hood in the National Geographic series The Long Road Home (Tuesdays 10PM/9 CT [note the time change] and on demand), two separate divisions of the brigade were heading into Sadr City to rescue an ambushed unit.  The third episode brings the viewer closer to the fighting—and it’s not pretty to watch.

First Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla) and his men are attempting to hang on until rescuers arrive.  That means going back into harm’s way to retrieve flares to indicate their position to the other units.  The problems are many–first, the attack is well-conceived and each of the other units are walking into a trap.  In addition, the units are ill-prepared for conflict of this nature, be it communication (some vehicles have no radios), armor (one truck is completely open, leaving at least twelve soldiers in the line of potential fire), or experience (the fear some of the soldiers display is palpable). Camp War Eagle knows it’s not going to be pretty, so they start preparing a medical unit for treating injuries.  Problems exist there as well—their main doctor is a pediatrician and there are no units of blood available in case something happens.

Troy and Gina Denomy (Photo courtesy of National Geographic).

The focus of this episode is Captain Troy Denomy (Jason Ritter), who feels remorse for sending Aguero’s unit out and learning one of their own has died in the process.  He’s married to Gina (Kate Bosworth), who sits at home with a newborn while trying to recover from a C-Section.  Troy does what he’s been trained to do: rushing into the middle of the fray in order to rescue people. However, he soon finds his group pinned down as bullets rain through the sky, injuring himself and multiple members of his vehicle.

Gina knows being the head of the Family Readiness Group has its blessings as she finds out what’s happening before the rest of the wives.  Then again, it has its trials when she learns the team has been attacked. Because of her husband’s status, she knows Troy is going into harm’s way, but she no clue that he’s been wounded in battle.  However, she has to stay calm and let the rest of the wives know an attack has occurred–something nobody on base expected or wanted to occur.

I struggled with this episode, especially one scene where one of Aguero’s men keeps watch while on the top of a building.  He sees a young boy playing with a machine gun, then watches in horror as he points it directly at the soldier.  When the gun is fired, the soldier shoots the kid.  His father hears the commotion, sees what is going on, then takes up the gun to fight—he is also killed.  Finally, the grandfather grabs the gun and is killed.  There’s significant remorse in the soldier’s voice as he laments he killed three generations of a family.  In split-second decisions, how do you know what’s the right thing to do when neither option is truly acceptable?  This is where moral wounds arise.  I could imagine this being the reason why so many of the soldiers found a measure of comfort from the words of David in the Psalms.  Green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23:2-3) are a whole lot peaceful than desert sands and dry streams. But the soldiers have to be vigilant, knowing one wrong move could be their last.  That vigilance will be further tested in the next episode; that’s for sure.

The Long Road Home: Interview with the Cast

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Every individual who enters a branch of the US Armed Forces understands there is a possibility of having to be in a combat situation. They also understand there’s a chance they will be wounded or potentially killed while attempting to complete their mission.  The First Calvary Division from Ft. Hood TX was on a basic peacekeeping mission in Iraq in 2004—the city they were placed in, Sadr City, had been incident-free for nearly a year.  Nice and easy, right?

On Palm Sunday (April 4, 2004), the First Calvary Division came under a surprise attack resulting in nearly fifty soldiers being wounded, along with eight deaths. It was horrible, to be sure—an event that was written about by ABC Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz in her book The Long Road Home.  On Tuesday, November 7th, National Geographic will broadcast an eight-part miniseries chronicling that day in Iraq.  I had the recent opportunity to interview members of the series and discovered that despite the difficult circumstances, the concept of family and faith was critical to the survival of both the soldiers and their families seven thousand miles away.

(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

For the soldiers, the situation was pretty dire—but they didn’t fight alone. Katie Paxton, who played the wife of 1st Lt. Shane Aguero in the series, said that, in reality, “Every soldier is you, is me, is your neighbor.” As a result, the families deploy with the soldiers (though not physically), constantly worrying if their loved one will return to embrace them again. It’s a sense of sacrifice that isn’t lost on the children. Karina Ortiz, playing the wife of Spc. Israel Garza, noted that the soldier is seen to some kids as abandoning them instead of a hero.  Others attempt to cling to them in a sense of desperation. It manifests itself into varied and unpredictable forms of behavior as a result.

War is a test on couples as well.  Paxton noted that the wife is basically a single parent.  It’s an additional level of stress and trauma to deal with. Martha Raddatz added that since the families don’t know anything, they’re constantly terrified. As a result, the wives have no real choice but to form a close-knit community.  Jorge Diaz, who played Israel Garza, shared that it’s also tough on the soldiers who constantly think about their families back home.  The occasional phone call helps but doesn’t relieve the worry.  In addition, the soldiers miss out on large chunks of family life.  In the case of Shane Aguero, his tours of duty caused him to miss 65 months of his kids’ lives.

When soldiers get into the heat of battle, they are forced to make split-second decisions affecting people’s lives.  But that’s not all they deal with in those moments.  Sometimes, a soldier is hit by gunfire or shrapnel and has to deal with physical injuries. But Aaron Fowler, US Army veteran, mentioned a unique term in my interview: moral injuries.  Moral Injuries are unseen and involve doing something that is legally correct but violates a person’s morals (such as killing a child who has a suicide vest on). In these cases, deep spiritual trauma can occur.

To this end, faith in God is almost a requirement for a soldier.  Chaplains are deployed just like soldiers and help the soldiers spiritually, but they don’t have weapons.  Mikko Alanne, executive producer and screenwriter, added that each episode of the series has a focus on a specific character and theme.  The second part of the episode on Tuesday evening has a theme of faith—and it’s readily on display for the viewer to see. He referenced Psalm 130:1, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,” mentioning that faith can give people the will to survive in a difficult time. Eric Bourquin, US Army veteran featured in the series, noted that “if you have nothing to believe in, you have nothing to hope for.”

It’s important to know not only what happened, but why it happened, according to Alanne. The Long Road Home was created with meticulous attention to detail to honor the soldiers who were a part of Black Sunday.  As Fowler noted, why would you sacrifice the relationship with your brothers for something that’s not accurate?  It became a solemn responsibility for them.  Raddatz mentioned that when the event happened in 2004, she received two photos of the whole thing, so her reaction to first seeing the final product was one of “absolute awe.”  After seeing two episodes, you’ll probably say the same thing.

The Long Road Home premieres Tuesday, November 7th at 9 PM (8/CT) on National Geographic and will feature the first two episodes.

Special thanks to National Geographic and Andy Peterson from Different Drummer for coordinating the interview sessions.