A feature-length documentary film on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on veterans will get its first Milwaukee screening on Saturday, Nov. 19, at Marquette University.
The 94-minute film, “On The Bridge,” features the stories of six Iraq war veterans, including Jason Moon of Milwaukee, a singer-songwriter who also wrote and performs original music for the film.
The director, Olivier Morel, Ph.D., is a French and American director of documentary films and radio series, as well as a teacher. He has been living in the US since 2005, teaching French and comparative literature at University of Notre Dame. The producer, Pawel Rozenberg, is French, and the European Union and French National Film Board provided development support for the project.
The film tells the stories of Wendy, born Mexican and sent to Iraq at 19, who saw the hell of war in a combat support hospital; Jason's psychological suffering, his medication, as well as his refuge in song, his poignant lyrics and haunting voice; the angel-faced Ryan's rage, deep political about-turn and activism; Lisa, a police officer in one of America's roughest neighborhoods of Chicago, a single mother shocked by her presence at Abu Ghraib’s infamous prison; David, an officer who thought he was immune to conflict after eight combat tours, who was never the same after Iraq; and finally Vinny's multiple lives, torn between loyalty to the Marines and disgust with what he saw and did in Iraq.
The film will be shown at 7 p.m.on Saturday, Nov. 19, in Room 001of Cudahy Hall, on the Marquette campus, 1313 W. Wisconsin Ave. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.
The director, Olivier Morel, and Jason Moon’s wife and son will attend and take part in a discussion with the audience after the screening.