Let There Be Light was a film ordered by the US Army at the end of World War II to document the therapy of 75 veterans suffering from what was then known as battle fatigue and is now understood to be post-traumatic stress disorder, the intention being to educate the public about mental wounds veterans might have received from their war experience, along with the ability for these wounds to be treated with modern medical practices that treated them with dignity and helped them explore the sources of their illnesses.
(This is a film showing PTSD-afflicted men discussing traumatic memories, so CW)
Unfortunately, the War Department took issue with the finished product and its unsettling picture of the affects of combat, and so had the film supressed, making sure it did not receive a proper release until 1981, when America had went through another war producing a new generation of veterans dealing with trauma.
What effect might the films have had if John Huston was free to release it as he planned? The War Department certainly thought it had the potential to make an impact, what might it have been?
(This is a film showing PTSD-afflicted men discussing traumatic memories, so CW)
Unfortunately, the War Department took issue with the finished product and its unsettling picture of the affects of combat, and so had the film supressed, making sure it did not receive a proper release until 1981, when America had went through another war producing a new generation of veterans dealing with trauma.
What effect might the films have had if John Huston was free to release it as he planned? The War Department certainly thought it had the potential to make an impact, what might it have been?