"Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1" is a 40-minute documentary short film from 2013 by filmmaker Ellen Goosenberg Kent, who has worked on documentaries about all kinds of stuff in the last 20 years before making this one here, probably her career-defining film at this point. It won her an Academy Award pretty much exactly a year ago and I applaud the Academy for honoring this little gem. The premise is very simple. We all know about soldiers who come back home and face severe mental struggles. Early on we find out the terrible truth of how many of these actually kill themselves and for the rest of the film we get to witness these brave souls who are there for them.
It is a call center for veterans and their partners/family when they feel that they may be in danger of committing suicide or are just in a really bad state mentally because of what they had to witness in Afghanistan or wherever they were stationed. What I really liked about this film is that it's all about the people in the movie. There is no narrator breaking the atmosphere and we get all the informations we need displayed via text, i.e. who we are watching, who is calling etc. A great short film and I highly recommend seeing it, also if you have nothing to do with the military or do not come from the United States. Both factors apply to me and I still had a great time watching. Very depressing and yet uplifting. Thumbs up.
It is a call center for veterans and their partners/family when they feel that they may be in danger of committing suicide or are just in a really bad state mentally because of what they had to witness in Afghanistan or wherever they were stationed. What I really liked about this film is that it's all about the people in the movie. There is no narrator breaking the atmosphere and we get all the informations we need displayed via text, i.e. who we are watching, who is calling etc. A great short film and I highly recommend seeing it, also if you have nothing to do with the military or do not come from the United States. Both factors apply to me and I still had a great time watching. Very depressing and yet uplifting. Thumbs up.