Sgt. Will Gardner is a shocking and truthful examination of what the mind of a veteran might be going through as he copes with post traumatic stress from combat. Writer / Director Max Martini sets the tone from the opening scene for the internal life of the character. The film serves both as metaphor and symbol to create the experience of the far reaches of the mind. It begs the question: how can we know what it's like in the life of a combat veteran, plagued by his memories and haunted by the loss of his humanity and ultimately of his mind. Director Martini brilliantly creates an environment in the film where we experience the veterans struggle by creating spaces in which he exists either in repression or delusion. It shows how the character tries to navigates his way out of the far reaches of his battered soul through the people he meets; all of which offer him the vehicle of empathy even though he is existing at the bottom of societies hierarchy. One of the most moving performances is by Marine veteran played by Luis Bordonada (an Army veteran himself). The way Bordonada inhabits the character is both heart breaking and brutal. One feels the extent at which the actor exists in each moment of sorrow, loss and joy of feeling alive, even if for a fleeting second. The most impressive and humbling aspect of the film is how Director Martini explores the power of cinema itself to create a tone of story layered with possibilities. Sgt. Gardner in the opening scenes of the film is found (and ripped out of) a destroyed motel room, where he is hiding in a bathroom. One might create symbolism and parallels of the motel room as his "mind" and the bathroom as his "repressions" where he is tragically lost. The act of him being ripped out of that environment is the very methodology the film then tackles through use of farce, humor, and structure of principles. What else is cinema capable of achieving? Please, do yourself a favor and watch Sgt. Will Gardner to find out what your experience might be. I had the great honor and privilege of watching the film while sitting next to a Navy Seal, and I can tell you unequivocally, that he was moved to his core... as was I.
Review of SGT. Will Gardner
