The Ground Truth (2006): B-

For much of its first half, The Ground Truth is a documentary in search of a theme, with director Patricia Foulkrod leveling cursory criticisms against the Iraq war’s execution, the armed forces’ marketing campaigns and xenophobia-laced basic training procedures, and the media’s soft-peddling coverage of non-combatant fatalities, all in the hope that one will stick. Midway through, one does, as Foulkrod focuses her gaze on the neglectful mistreatment of returning GIs – many now severely handicapped and/or suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – by the military that asked for and accepted their service. Through interviews with former soldiers struggling to reintegrate into mainstream society because of either physical or psychological traumas, the director paints a portrait of abandonment in which the powers-that-be seem to have deliberately ignored the far-from-inconsequential problems (depression, violent and suicidal tendencies) of their discharged comrades. That Foulkrod’s primary thesis is often undercut by semi-related tangents and a standard-issue ugly non-fiction aesthetic leaves The Ground Truth feeling frustratingly uneven and far from cinematically inspired. But as a document of our military’s shameful disregard for its own, it’s nonetheless a vital reminder of the monumental, lingering toll war takes on its participants, and the moral obligation a country has to care for them once they’ve come home.

Comments

[GUY]

this movie needs to be seen.support our troops by listening to them