Marcus Woodman (Sean Compton) is a former U.S. Navy Seal with over 200 kills. One of his last kills was an American who pleaded for mercy and that mercy was his death which Woodman accommodated. Woodman may have killed many but killing a U.S. citizen is a lynchpin to his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) common amongst many soldiers. In pre–Gulf War days PTSD was referred to as “shell shock”. PTSD can take a nasty turn with soldiers as they are trained in weaponry so can cause fatalities when having a PTSD “attack”. We had here in Canada an Afghani war vet with PTSD that killed his wife and two children then himself. Yes it would seem that Canadian veterans are praised and glorified by the Canadian government but when many return with PTSD suddenly there is minimal funding to treat the psychiatric disease.
Woodman has had numerous flashbacks about his kill and his wife pleads with him to seek treatment. After Woodman’s wife dies he seeks treatment in a U.S. Army facility conducting preliminary studies and treatments for PTSD called Operation Stalking Field. Yes an American corporation is deeply involved as well as a particularly cruel woman and her sidekick. Welcome to a new Cruella de Vil!
So what is the essential element of this experiment? Those with PTSD are to hunt down and kill innocent civilians. Far fetched and against all prevailing psychiatric treatments yet backed by a powerful corporation and the U.S. military.
It is a turkey shoot. But matters take an unexpected twist as viewers will witness that not all is what it seems to be. The hunters become the hunted. The innocent civilians are not all that innocent particularly in the last 5 seconds of the film.
Yes the film is exciting and apart from some clumsy and overacted “hunt scenes” the acting is solid and the screenplay is believable because co-writers Sean Crampton and Jordan Wisely come from military families and have personal experience with PTSD. Director Ric Maddox is an army veteran.
Yes the innocent civilians in the turkey shoot are told its is time they served their country to serve those who have served you!
While “The Stalking Fields” is an action film let me take it further saying it is heavily laced with sarcasm and genuine anger at lack of meaningful PTSD treatments for U.S. Army veterans, the stupidity of patriotic jingoism, a fundamental distrust of partnerships between corporations and the upper echelons of the U.S. military.
You can watch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/759234332?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=29220
“The Stalking Fields” will be released on digital platforms on January 17th 2023.
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