By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Making the rounds of Jewish film festivals is the Israeli documentary When the Smoke Clears, which recreates the battles in which several IDF soldiers were wounded and then follows each of these soldiers on the road to recovery.
Almost everyone by now has heard of post-traumatic stress (PTS) but by recreating the situations in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon that haunt the veterans—in some cases using animation—this documentary helps viewers to better empathize with how and why the veterans are still suffering.
The documentary directed by Rebecca Shore eventually leads to us to the work of the Brothers for Life Foundation, made up of ex-IDF soldiers who are recovering from the trauma of war in each other’s understanding company. Interviews are conducted in both English and Hebrew, with English subtitles.
“You’re a leader, and then people have to help you,” rued one veteran.
Another, visiting graves of fallen comrades on Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day), thinks aloud that one of those graves could have been his.
Even though he is wearing civilian clothes, one former soldier said he feels that he still is in the war zone. “You are still there… something in your brain has changed,” he says.
Another admits that after seeing so many of his friends die, he didn’t want to live.
We learn that it is not only the memory of carnage in which fellow soldiers were killed before their eyes that keep some wounded veterans off-balance after their return to civilian life; it is also the feeling that they no longer can function as they once did.
One veteran who could play the piano very well now has difficulty picking out the notes of a simple Beatles tune. Reading is also difficult for him.
Another, who composes songs on which he accompanies himself on the guitar, wrote a ballad about a friend who tried to commit suicide.
On a visit to Seattle, Washington, where the wounded soldiers were greeted as visiting Israeli heroes, one confided to Rabbi Chaim that he doesn’t believe he deserves to live anymore.
Families of the soldiers are also affected by the trauma of war.
For example, we see a father visiting his badly wounded son in the hospital. The son looks up from his bed and apologizes to his father. He is sorry that he got himself wounded. And the father chokes up.
A wife to whom her wounded husband returns is the mother of one boy and expecting another boy. She says she shudders every time she thinks that these boys too will someday be drafted into the Israeli army. However, she say resolutely, they will follow in their father’s steps.
A wounded veteran tells us, “Going to war isn’t heroic… people choosing to live after what they’ve gone through” – that’s heroic.
While the overall tone of the film is sad, touching, and sometimes depressing, the film also is leavened with humor, as the soldiers joke about themselves.
One soldier, who lost his eye in battle, jokes that his favorite cartoon characters are the one-eyed Minions, who happily coexist with two-eyed Minions. He likes to collect Minion memorabilia.
When the Smoke Clears: A Story of Brotherhood, Resilience and Hope will have its San Diego premiere during the GI Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas at Hazard Center.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com