'Thank Your for Your Service' director wants to make plight of returning vets 'personal again'
The director and inspiration behind the film speak out.
— -- Miles Teller stars as Sgt. Adam Schumann in the new movie "Thank You for Your Service," which opens this weekend.
Based on true events, the movie looks at the lives of several servicemen coming home from the Iraq War, grappling with issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and the complex subject of getting help after returning home from active duty.
Director Jason Hall says it’s time for the American public to think about returning soldiers in a more personal way.
"For a long time we welcomed them back and then Vietnam came and they weren't so welcomed home," Hall tells ABC News. "Now we have a war where we are welcoming guys home that are forgotten."
He continued, "Afghanistan's been forgotten, Iraq has been forgotten and it's unfortunate. But as artists and authors and journalist we have to find a way to make it personal again."
Whether or not the movie will help the general public understand the plight of returning vets, one of the movie's subjects -- Schumann -- says it helped him better understand himself.
"You look at your life and you don't really have a good perspective and then to see it on film, you get some perspective," Schumann told ABC News. "I can see where I was and I can see where I'm at now, and I've gained some ground and it feels pretty good."
Schumann says he hopes the movie will help people better understand some of the challenges vets face that they may have misconceptions about, like PTSD, which he says isn't just an issue for soldiers, but for everyone who suffers the lingering effects of trauma.
Schumann says PTSD sufferers aren't "loose cannons or powder kegs. ... They are just people that are internally struggling to get back to who they were."
"Thank You for Your Service" is out in theaters nationwide today.
