Movie RETURN 2023
Hollywood has shown the jarring consequences of warfare and the typical PTSD that happens to those who are able to survive it a great number of times. They are often images of shattered men who are unable to escape the clutches of their individual hell that has been constructed in their thoughts and who are unable to escape their violent pasts.
These depictions are typically quite distressing. There is neither a victor nor a vanquished in any of their remarks. only the psychological wound that, in most cases, serves to provoke the individual into committing an act of ultimate violence against oneself. It is not anything to be ashamed of since sometimes the only way for them to find peace is via death.
Confronting and finding solutions to the problem is an absolute need in today’s society. Veterans of past wars are still held in high esteem, but at what price? Should we truly look at the shiny medals they have earned, or should we set everything else aside and just listen to what they have to say?
One of these gentlemen is named James Markel Sr. A senior with a cold heart who is unable to find any way to advance in his career as a result of the obligations he had to fulfil many years ago while serving in Vietnam. His look is uncertain and virtually nonexistent.
The feature-length film Return is a record of the trip in which Markel battles over all of his lingering adversaries in order to be willing to live with self. He demands peace, and he must be able to survive with himself. He is able to do this with the assistance of his son, who is also a veteran and acts as a connective link between his father’s shattered head and the facts of returning to normal after firing weapons at people from other nations who were also battling for a good cause.
PTSD is something that affects Markel. He left Vietnam 45 years ago as a broken man, a soul that could never become whole again because of all the brutality and the disrespect that the nation displayed for him after he had been there. Even after spending decades marrying and raising a family, he was unable to forgive his identity and forgive the suffering he had caused. However, as his son suggests a method of recovery, Markel makes the decision to go through with the procedure and attempt to confront his demons. Where are you? at the location from whence everything got begun.
The movie’s directors Pete Tolton and Stan Parker choose not to produce a travel brochure about Vietnam; instead, they opt for sending Markels into the interior of a nation that continues to suffer from the consequences of war. Despite this, the circumstances of the population are inviting enough to suggest that they are joining a civilization that has made it possible for themselves to make amends.
Return is a movie that follows Markel and his son as they attempt to connect with Vietnamese people in ways that the war never allowed. Markel doesn’t get lost in interpretation since he understands a little bit of the words, but it’s the way they speak of others that enables him notice beyond a mistake that was fuelled by his own pain. They are not the adversaries that he battled against. They are the people who are still in a nation after the conflict has destroyed the country’s infrastructure.
Both the father and the son are there for the film’s last scene (there is another one directly afterwards it, but myself I choose to keep with the idea of Markel interacting with local tradition, citizens, and heritage), which depicts a celebration that has a mysterious and melancholy vibe about it. Markel is no longer a young man, and in order to prevent heatstroke, he is constantly need to stop what he is doing and rest. His legs may sometimes give out, and he will get out of breath.
The sweltering heat in Vietnam is quite dangerous. Nevertheless, that reunion is far more vital than anything else, and his elevated spirit is significantly more powerful than anything his body thinks he is capable of or is unable to do. He moves to the rhythm of his spirit discovering the light inside it. Markel has discovered happiness, and he is able to maintain his modesty in the presence of love and tranquilly.