This Is Not a War Story (2021)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on July 12, 2021 @ tonymacklin.net.

The first half of This Is Not a War Story is extraordinary, but the last part is just ordinary. It sputters and thuds.

When the film is a study of a group of veterans trying to deal with the horrors of their past experiences, it is inventive, involving, and compelling. It transports us to the dark sides of their souls. It makes their vulnerability real.

They all are participants in a papermaking group that cuts up their uniforms and uniforms of the dead and places them in a machine that turns them into pulp. The pulp from the uniforms is transformed into paper. They use it to create images, poems, and various expressions that cope with their grief.

The paper-making organization is based on a real one. It is actual and has the pulp of truth.

Initially, This Is Not a War Story seems like a documentary, since it has actual veterans who create characters from their own experiences.

Isabelle Casale (Talia Lugacy) is a MP veteran in distress who joins the group. She has a very tentative relationship with Will LaRue (Sam Adagoke), who is haunted by the death of another veteran he was mentoring. The total group is still the focus.

But eventually it lapses into a story about how Isabelle eventually goes in search of Will in upstate New York. It changes from a film about veterans into a film about her.

Well, since Talia is director, producer, writer, editor, and leading actress, ego prevails.

When she finally reaches Will, he is in a remote dwelling in the woods

Eventually they are joined by his dog (Fredo).

This Is Not a War Story turns into a shaggy dog story.