Description

“I’m 22 years old and I must have killed 30 people. The same thing that you were given badges for over in Iraq, would have you considered a serial killer over here. That’s a very weird thought to have running around in your head when it’s dark, going to sleep or late at night.”There is no place for doubt, sadness and fear in the American army. Still, many soldiers struggle with these feelings. Beer is Cheaper than Therapy portrays what goes on behind the facade of heroism and the ‘John Wayne mentality’.A 911 call from a Subway sandwich shop, where a young man has just shot himself in the head in the bathroom. A guy who explains that he had himself committed because he was on the verge of beating people to death on the street. A young woman who’s in tears because she has to help her depressed husband out of bed each morning. The stories in Beer Is Cheaper Than Therapy paint a dreadful picture of veterans of war in psychological distress, something there is little room for in the macho culture of the army. The documentary looks for an answer to the question of why the number of suicides among young American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is so frighteningly high. The filmmakers traveled to Killeen, Texas, home of Fort Hood – the largest Army base in the United States. Last year, 19 soldiers committed suicide there. De Vries’s film consists of interviews with soldiers and family members, sometimes anonymous, who are heard in voice-over while we see close-ups of soldiers in a tattoo shop and shots of nightlife in Killeen. Signs that read “We support our troops” and “Welcome home, heroes” stand in stark contrast to the reality described by the soldiers.Web page: http://www.zeppers.nl/en/film/beer-cheaper-therapy