Just like his fellow directors Frank Capra, William Wyler, George Stevens and John Ford, John Huston made films during and shortly after world war 2 to showcase to the american public why we were fighting in the first place. Unlike the others though, Huston made a film after the war that was so shocking it wasn't released officially until the early 80s. This film was considered shocking at the time because it dealt with something that many soldiers had acquired during the war and were still reluctant to discuss in detail. It has been in every single war ever fought. In the civil war, it was called soldier's heart. Shell shock was its name in the first world war. In the second, it was called battle fatigue. Shortly after vietnam, it got its current name: post traumatic stress disorder. Huston was courageous to make a documentary that focuses on this subject, because it shows what extended periods of getting shot at and having grenades thrown at you day after day will do to a person's mind. The film itself has no actual story. It is essentially just a collection of footage consisting of things like interviews and medical procedures attempting to cure the PTSD. Some of them are really strange. There's one instance where a soldier has undergone so much mental anguish during the war he has forgotten how to use his legs. He has to be lifted onto a bed and a doctor injects him with some kind of chemical solution. It puts him into a hypnotic state and allows him to walk again. The doctor makes the remarkable assumption that his inability to walk was mental, not physical. Another segment involves a former marine who participated in the battle of Okinawa against the japanese during the war's final stages. He can't remember anything. Even his own name has been forgotten. The doctor uses a technique to make him remember what happened on the island that day, and if he can remember those events, he can also recall what happened before them. Eventually, the technique works and he gets his memory back. These scenes really show how extremely powerful your mind is, and how being afraid mentally has a real possibility of negatively affecting your physical form. Later on, the former soldiers have a ceremony and they are allowed to return to civilian life. This film was revolutionary because it showcased how PTSD affected those returning from world war 2, and the fact that it is not scripted. Huston did not even tell the doctors or patients he put hidden cameras in their rooms to film their real interactions. Despite being banned for almost 4 decades, Let There Be Light is an important look at how psychologically harmful war is.
Review of Let There Be Light
