ODYSSEUS IN AMERICA is a feature documentary centering on the experiences of veterans having returned to the United States - with a focus on Vietnam Veterans. There is 50+ years of history mostly missing from the American conversation about war, moral injury, and the treatment of American Veterans here at home.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT:
America has always been intensely interested in what Vietnam Veterans have to say about what happened during the war - but for so long America has had very little interest in hearing what those same Veterans have to say about what happened to them after, in America. ODYSSEUS IN AMERICA is a deeply personal film. My father served in Vietnam at the age of 19 in a six-man scouting platoon for the U.S. Army Infantry. Dr. Sharon Raynor, my producing partner on this film, comes from a family full of veterans and has spent her entire academic career documenting and publishing the stories of Black Veterans. Dr. Raynor’s father, a retired Vietnam Veteran, passed away recently due to complications from exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam. The experiences of Vietnam veterans, post Vietnam, is a story that is almost entirely missing from the world of non-fiction film. When you look through the documentaries on the Vietnam War (and there are plenty to choose from) the focus is almost always on horror stories from the war abroad. The war in Vietnam fundamentally changed our country forever and the stories of the soldiers who served are vital to understand where the United States is now. Honoring these soldiers goes far beyond saying “thank you for your service” and it goes much further than just making this film. But we have to start somewhere. Unlike WWII and other foreign wars, where returning soldiers were universally considered patriots and heroes, Vietnam soldiers returned to an American society that did not want them. More than one veteran recounted for us that it was an "unwelcome home." For decades their wartime service and sacrifice was largely ignored and often disparaged, forcing these soldiers into lives of solitude and widespread depression. After the Vietnam conflict ended, the term PTSD would not show up in medical journals until the 1980s and many veterans would remain undiagnosed and untreated until the early 2000s. We are currently working with veterans from Texas, North Carolina, and New York, with many more signed up and waiting to be interviewed. -