Hidden Wounds

A short drama written and directed by Toby Kearton and starring Dominic Thompson.

 

A war veteran (Thompson) is in his home. However, in many ways, he is still in the battlefield and all around him there is chaos. And this is not because there is actual warfare is taking place in his current location. It is because even though he is far away from where combat occurred, the memories are tormenting him and the sounds of everyday products are causing him to remember trumatic events involving his time in the war zone.

 

Over the course of one minute, this short places the viewer in the tormented mind of a young man who is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The general concept is an ex-serviceman man sitting inside one of the rooms of his home and being dramatically affected by the noises of simple items, as they remind him of his experiences when he was fighting. Through creative sound techniques by Connor Ashmore, methodical editing, Kearton's detailed directing and Thompson's performance, this film develops an atmosphere filled with dread, agony and fear. To give a few examples, a fan is on and the sound of a military helicopter is heard, indicating that the noise reminds the veteran of an event involving an aircraft. Then, popcorn popping reminds him of gunfire. The crying of his baby through the baby monitor reminds him of screams of agony. All these are accompanied by his troubled face, with close-ups of his eyes filling with tears and his hands clutching together. A man is now away from actual combat, however, psychological combat is still with him and a way that it emerges is by sounds that resemble his experiences in combat. And the presence of a young boy (probably the man's son) cheerfully playing a video game suggests that people around him are oblivious to what he is going through.

 

To state that this short is a film might be misleading. It would probably be more accurate to categorise it as a message that raises awareness of the PTSD that war veterans are living with and encourages the public to support them. And it succeeds in doing all that very significantly.

 

This short would have such a dramatic impact without Thompson's strong performance. Constant close-ups of his face and body language reveal that he is suffering tremendously although he is now home with his loved ones. He is trapped by the horrors that he went through, living in a world of psychological torment that is not being acknowledged by those around him.

 

Arguably, the main subject here is mental health involving war veterans, the PTSD and trauma that they experience after they have left the battlefields and how it affects them through the sounds of everyday objects.

 

This dramatic piece of work encourages support for people who have fought. It definitely catches the viewer's attention due to the tense atmosphere and the awareness and support that it motivates. This is an achievement that should be shown on television and the internet and become known to as many people as possible.