The Dry Land (2010) User Reviews

quiet performance from O'Nan

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 4 August 2016]

James (Ryan O'Nan) returns home to Texas from the Iraq war with memory loss. He suffers from PTSD and roughs up his loving wife Sarah (America Ferrera) in his dream state. His mother Martha (Melissa Leo) is sick. He starts work at the slaughterhouse with his best friend Michael (Jason Ritter). He seeks help after another episode. Sarah leaves him. He visits fellow troubled soldier Raymond Gonzales (Wilmer Valderrama) who leaves his family to join him on a road trip.

Relative unknown Ryan O'Nan gets the lead in this movie. I don't dismiss his quiet performance. I would rather Valderrama switch it up with the reserved explosive role. It would be more interesting to see him act outside his comfort zone. O'Nan has an everyman feel and sometimes fades into the background. It's a sincere movie with solid actors doing fine work.

Unspectacular message-movie

[twilliams76 · 5/10 · 13 July 2011]

A ponderous message-movie that is pretty-much all drama (there is very little "lite" here). The Dry Land is a story of an Iraq war vet returning home to rural western Texas to the loving arms of his wife (America Ferrera -- TV's "Ugly Betty", Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) only to realize he cannot make things "right" in his mind with what occurred on the other side of the world.

He meets fellow soldiers and friends and tries to make peace; but the film depicts the folly of war. None of the actors do a poor job on this film and the subject matter is important. The Dry Land is a film one hates to criticize or put-down as I am afraid the criticism will be misconstrued. My problem(s) with the film are not the war or the actors on the screen ... this is simply an "average film" from an un-proved director (this is Ryan Piers Williams' first full-length production).

Humans aren't made to be killing machines without something inside each of us changing. For a brief time, it felt as if this was going to be yet another retread of the Americanized version of the Danish film Brothers; but it eventually steered itself into a different direction which was good. Saying that -- there really isn't much else to discuss about this quiet film.

Like it's title suggests ... the story doesn't meander like a river -- it is just all-out and flat. There is an expanse of land to look at and take in -- and that is what this film is all about. Look at war. Look at its problems. Look at its "solutions". Look at us. Look ...

Real Life is Boring

[dansview · 5/10 · 20 December 2012]

It's a simple fact that plenty of soldiers are common people who come from nothing and were going nowhere. They didn't necessarily join the military out of a sense of patriotism. They just needed a purpose for living.

A lot of common guys are also trashy. None of these facts detract from the value of their service. Sometimes we see soldiers in an overly idealistic way, as if they are our patriotic, Christian heroes. Some are, but many aren't. That's just life.

Having said that, it almost goes without saying, that watching common trashy people live their depressing lives, is boring.

Certain things, like scenery, multi-dimensional characters, or some kind of epiphany, might save a picture. This one didn't have it.

As some other reviewers put it, Dry Land was indicative of the storyline and pace as well as the terrain. Performances were adequate, if clichéd.

It isn't worth the time

[stuj-894-467035 · 1/10 · 10 November 2010]

Yet another Hollywood portrayal of soldiers returning from war as a bunch of drunken psychotic screw ups. This liberal waste of film even includes references to Vietnam just to ram the point home.

There isn't really a storyline in the film as it isn't necessary to make it's point. There is never any real dramatic basis for the problems with the character for which we are supposed to feel sorry so it is hard to feel anything.

If you are really into this sort of thing, a better film (along the same lines) is "Brothers" which does a better job with the same basic theme.

Coming back to normal life in America after experiencing war

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 27 June 2021]

After a bad ambush in Iraq, a man (Ryan O'Nan) comes home to El Paso to settle back into marriage and a job at a slaughter house, but buried issues keep surfacing. He and an army buddy (Wilmer Valderrama) travel to another town to visit a wounded comrade at a VA hospital. America Ferrera plays his wife, Jason Ritter a friend and Melissa Leo his mother

"The Dry Land" (2010) is a drama about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which brings to mind "Coming Home" (1978), "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), "In Country" (1989) and "The Lucky Ones" (2007).

This one plays down clichéd Hollywood-isms, keeping the story simple and totally realistic. It's a low-key, slice-of-life film depicting what it's really like for a common military guy to come home from a bad war experience in a distant land and most resembles "In Country," albeit on a lower budget.

It's simple and nothing to get overly excited about, but that's the way it was intended because that's the way it is for military guys like this. There are only a couple of lighter moments.

If you want a highly entertaining example of a similar story, check out "The Lucky Ones."

The film runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot in El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

GRADE: B-

Warning: actual animals killed

[rooprect · 1/10 · 25 December 2011]

In the first 20 minutes we get a graphic scene of a cow being shot through the head. Blood and mucus pour out her nose as she exhales her last breath. It's real (no props, cgi or animatronics). American Humane Association inspectors were not on hand because the production company never informed them of the scene (you can verify this at the AHA film rating website).

It may not make a difference to most viewers, but if you don't support films with actual animal killings & cruelty, steer clear of this one. I hear there's a later scene of a rabbit being shot, but I didn't bother sticking around for that. There are many reasons to kill, but entertainment is not one of them.

Softly Blunt

[LeonLouisRicci · 3/10 · 25 April 2013]

This Film is recommended for those who want to find out about PTSD and don't have a clue what this thing is, just that returning Soldiers suffer from this "Disease". Problem is after viewing this almost unbearably Melodramatic and manipulative Movie you might start developing symptoms of your own. It is that depressing.

Do we really need a Cancerous Mother, a traumatized, possible cheating Wife, a job in a Slaughterhouse with graphic bloodletting, a paraplegic Comrade who lets go a ridiculous metaphor, insensitive Family Members and co-workers, a standoffish and selfish Friend from his Platoon in Iraq, all to illustrate in-adaptability? There are more understated, over the top inclusions. This is all so heavy handed while pretending not to be.

This is blunt, pounding away without consideration for even the slightest bit of elation to enter this exercise in despair. If you are hit in the head enough times, even with a soft object, the result is a numbness. So it defeats the purpose to inspire awareness to the subject at hand and tragically the audience becomes Collateral Damage.

Far From Facts

[sajjad_isf · 1/10 · 20 November 2010]

Writer-director Ryan Piers Williams does, and he has been researching and reading about the subject for five years.The result is "The Dry Land". But how can after five years researching something not fair showed up !

James characteristics is not match with what it have to be, not real. some one who is care about what happen to animals, but human. Compare to others James is more sensitive to small detail of life which is not acceptable, because he just came back from Iraq and what he have done there must made him more though than before and James doesn't remember what he have done in Iraq, that's whole idea to make the movie.

Raymond Gonzales (Wilmer Valderrama) and Henry (Diego Klattenhoff) are quite close to reality of whom had war experience, Raymond still wants to be active and naughty as old days because he missed it and Henry wants to forget everything as he said: "Help me end this".

It's better to show the war effect on both side simultaneously.

Drowning on dry land, an effective tale of PTSD

[viewfromhere · 9/10 · 12 February 2010]

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the source of many ongoing casualties of war. While not a condition restricted only to actual battle, the disorder has become increasingly well understood, even if not always well diagnosed and treated. The Dry Land explores the deep pain and disorientation that affects returning Iraq war veteran James as he tries to reacquire "normal" life in Texas. James becomes increasingly dysfunctional and desperate in the face of normal life.

The melancholic beauty of the film lies in the telling of this story through a highly personal struggle. We experience the effects on James' community of wife, extended family, friends, acquaintances, and others along the way. The horror of war is artfully portrayed without a single flashback to events in military service. This made the movie more effective as a probe into the actual effects of PTSD. We have seen plenty of war footage elsewhere, but not nearly enough of war's effects in day to day lives of the many victims. In reality, we are all the victims of war in one way or another. People like James pay an extremely high price, and our whole society in diminished through all the ripple effects.

The Dry Land exposes a reality of war that we all need to consider, and hopefully translate into action. James' family and friends are ineffective in all their efforts to help, the military appears in a reasonable but impotent light, and no answers are proposed. James really struggles alone despite attempts to lift him. Ultimately we likewise must struggle alone in many ways. The ancient Hebrew prophets cry out again and again against violence and injustice. We readily visualize the immediate effects of violence in blood and killing, but the entirety of the toll is much greater and deeper. "But they do not know how to do what is right," declares the LORD, "these who hoard up violence and devastation in their cities" (Amos 3:10). There is a devastation that still comes into our own cities, far from the killing fields of war. Will we ever count the real cost?

An intense, human portrait of an Iraqi war vets struggle to reintegrate into his home, family and community.

[Cheetahz · 10/10 · 26 January 2010]

So far, my favorite Sundance film of 2010. The Dry Land is a deeply-felt, tone perfect portrait of an Iraqi war veteran's struggles to re-integrate into his marriage, family and community, as well as his journey to make peace with the events of his personal war.

This film is NOT political in any sense of the word, but rather a very human story, told by a director and actors who obviously care about both the characters and the many war vets struggling to readjust.

The film uses a very clever metaphor to bring us into the horrors of war, and the camera closely follows James to involve us from his point of view and to provide the intimacy needed to tell such a personal and troubling story.

If you are a war vet, or if you know or love one, or if you simply really DO care about the soldiers in combat zones throughout the world, SEE THIS FILM!

Warning: This film contains some graphic scenes and may break your heart.

Everyone's war is different and so is the return

[gijoetx45 · 10/10 · 28 November 2010]

I am a combat Veteran who was seriously wounded in Baghdad, Iraq on April 26, 2004. I had the opportunity to view The Dry Land at the Dallas International Film Festival in April this year. I think the movie does an excellent job portraying some of the issues that may occur when a combat Veteran comes home. Each one of us has a different experience of war and react differently when we come back home and try to fit back into normalcy. It can be difficult to accept that life back home may be different then prior to our deployment and the fact that our friends and family view us differently too. I think The Dry Land is spot on in every aspect of the movie and I want to thank all of the actors & actresses for their involvement and especially the Director and Screenwriter Ryan Piers Williams.

A challenge to the Director...

[Miakmynov · 8/10 · 26 June 2010]

The Dry Land offers a straightforward, apolitical and moving study of the after-effects of the Iraqi war, portraying very effectively the complexity of the situation, and men's typically self-destructive need to try and hold it all in. It's such an irony – having equipped them with the requisite technical knowledge, we send our young, tough boy-men braves into battle at an age when they are at their physical peak and believe they are both invincible and immortal...and by this very same token, they are probably one of the most vulnerable groups of all, in terms of the fallible and susceptible coping mechanisms necessary for this kind of situation. How can we be surprised that soldiers return from war unable to leave behind the first-hand exposure to all sorts of the horrors that they've witnessed?

In film-making terms, it reinforced my view that the better Iraqi war films seem to the ones about the after-effects back home, rather than the war itself – the obvious reference point in this regard being the excellent 'In The Valley of Elah' – continuing to mark a shift away from gung-ho action type movies to more thoughtful and reflective studies of the longer-term impact and consequences of war on the human psyche. And although The Dry Land did not benefit from the type of powerhouse performance of a Tommy Lee Jones, the main characters were well-drawn and empathically believable, centred around a brave performance by a previously relatively-unknown lead, Ryan O'Nan.

If there is a flaw, then a couple of plot contrivances felt slightly clumsy and forced – James starting a job in a slaughterhouse within a day or two of returning, then his mates taking him out into the Texan desert for a spot of post-booze-up late-night rabbit shooting. Both seemed rather insensitive to what he might have just been through, but I suppose the counter-argument would be that if the protagonists were not aware there was anything wrong, then why wouldn't James want to shoot the local wildlife?

It was great to see the backbone of the cast make the effort to attend for the Q&A after the screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival – I was left with a strong sense of collective belief in the film they had made. The Director (Ryan Piers Williams) was particularly lucid and clearly knew his subject well. He can be rightfully proud of a superior piece of film-making that tackles a difficult subject head-on but with sensitivity, without allowing any unnecessary treacly sentimentality to creep in. I was left wondering about the help and support available to help people like James recover their lives and, given the hopeful ending to the film, would be delighted to see a sequel involving the same Director and cast.

So, Ryan, you've done half the job in providing an excellent awareness-raiser – now could you finish the job by filming the equally-testing road towards recovery? 8/10

Wounded away and at home!

[lake-644-691343 · 8/10 · 27 January 2010]

Sundance did it to me again. Suckered me in and made me cry. There is always a film or a subject matter that tugs at your heart strings. This film and it's subject did that to me.

James (Ryan O'Nan) returns home. After a tour in Iraq. Now home in his Texas small town. James must get back into a civilian lifestyle. His transition is going to be his biggest war. Not remembering a significant event in Iraq. Which killed two and wounded others. James drives a wedge between his family and friends. His wife Sarah (America Ferrera) leaves him do to his constant aggressive flashbacks. His best friend (Jason Ritter) tries desperately to help. But, James refuses any help. So, he sets out to find what happened that day in Iraq. He is joined by his fellow Army buddy (Wilmer Valderrama). The two ex-soldiers head to Walter Reed Medical center. To visit one of the injured soldiers. What James learns. Haunts him and filled the void of that unanswered question. The trouble of his Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome will lead James down a rocky road.

We may have seen films touch on this subject matter. But, none quite like this. Director Ryan Piers Williams did a phenomenal job tackling this subject. The acting was solid. The need for this film today is warranted. Soldiers are coming home daily. We need to support them. With the suicide rate of returning soldiers out numbering the casualties over seas. We have to bring this to the table. Discuss it and help!

The Dry Land - beyond PTSD

[gbrown-43-429177 · 8/10 · 2 May 2011]

For his first feature-length film, The Dry Land writer-director, Ryan Piers Williams, portrayed the unraveling affects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with equal measure of grit and grace. Ryan O'Nan plays James, a solider returning from the war in Iraq, with both restraint and credible volatility. Initially, the film appears to be checking off the returning warrior clichés: heartfelt airport terminal reunion, an awkward return to intimacy with the wife, reentry to a mundane job, and an alcohol fueled tussle with a smart-mouthed townie. But as James begins to wrestle with a critical missing part of his recollection of Iraq, the film makes a decidedly introspective turn toward the reality of PTSD.

This Sundance-nominee was able not only to capture a certain authenticity of the returning soldier, Williams also provides a parable of brokenness, self-destruction, and the isolation of the one whose wounds are hidden to his community. As James reaches out to his Army buddies in hopes to fill in the empty parts of his memory, he only finds more brokenness among them. Many who have never worn a uniform can relate to the elusive redemption we seek from others.

At my screening, there was some difference of reaction regarding the climatic final scene. Some were disappointed in the lack of Hollywood-style triumph. But as the rain poured down on the "dry land" of James' El Paso landscape, the viewer is not left without the hope of healing from trauma and despair.

An illuminating low budget film with a fantastic cast.

[solitary_demon · 9/10 · 28 June 2011]

A friend of mine (Facebook friend) who was in the army recommended me this movie. I saw the main cast, Ryan O'Nan was unknown to me, but America (Ugly Betty, Real Women Have Curves), Wilmer (That 70's Show), Jason (Happy Endings, Freddy Vs Jason), Melissa (Frozen River), Ethan (My Name is Earl), Evan (8 Mile, Jarhead) and Ana Claudia (The Crime of Father Amaro)I really wonder how with a low budget they could afford to cast so many recognizable good actors. As I suspected the acting was really good. The chemistry between the actors was spot on. Many of the actors had little screen time, but they made it memorable. The movie start with a good pace until James (O'Nan) starts to feel the symptoms of his condition. After that things happen really fast. I'm not military man, but I guess anyone can identify himself or herself with some of the issues any veteran has to deal with after coming back home. Even though this movie is classified as a Drama it has a little bit of everything; romance, comedy, mystery (no spoiler watch the movie), and adventure. For a debuting Director this film promises a lot in the future for him. Ryan O'Nan has a lot of potential and talent. I'm delighted to see that many actors still make movies not for the money, but for the love to its Art.