The trailers and reviews for this movie make it look like the story of a man conflicted and changed. I think that was the intent but I don't feel like it succeeded. I was very excited about going this movie so was pretty disappointed. The film can't decide if it is a story of a vet with PTSD trying to find his way or a story about the pipeline so it tells neither well.
The plot seems to be that the main character has PTSD to the degree that he can't touch his pregnant wife's belly to feel the baby, then he goes to write some stories at the pipeline and is magically healed by his new found engagement with the protestors and some hokey pseudo-native American rituals.
The main problem is you really don't know anything about the internal world or motivations of the main character. You have no idea when he was in the service. How long he's been married. Whether he wants the baby or not. You really have minimal idea of what his politics are. There are a couple of lines that were maybe supposed to give a sense of his politics but were delivered so flatly that it was hard to know his intent. He rarely shares his actual emotions and thoughts so any change is sort of vague. You really don't connect with him or understand him. The only thing you know is that he's haunted by his military service.
The plot line is superficial and it feels like a bunch of scenes spliced together that had a general intent but not a good script guiding them.
The plot seems to be that the main character has PTSD to the degree that he can't touch his pregnant wife's belly to feel the baby, then he goes to write some stories at the pipeline and is magically healed by his new found engagement with the protestors and some hokey pseudo-native American rituals.
The main problem is you really don't know anything about the internal world or motivations of the main character. You have no idea when he was in the service. How long he's been married. Whether he wants the baby or not. You really have minimal idea of what his politics are. There are a couple of lines that were maybe supposed to give a sense of his politics but were delivered so flatly that it was hard to know his intent. He rarely shares his actual emotions and thoughts so any change is sort of vague. You really don't connect with him or understand him. The only thing you know is that he's haunted by his military service.
The plot line is superficial and it feels like a bunch of scenes spliced together that had a general intent but not a good script guiding them.