Last night we watched a film we'd never heard of. It was titled the War at Home. And little did we know it, but in selecting it out of a bin of films at the Salvation Army thrift shop we were in the process of bring home an outstanding film, powerfully motivated and superbly acted.

Produced in 1996, the cast was outstanding. The story of a middle-class family emotionally rent asunder at the return of their Vietnam-war veteran son.  His mind shattered by his experiences in the theatre of war.  Overwhelmed by guilt and raging anger, the film unfolds as the family undergoes further disintegration.

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There is no peace of mind for the young man, his expectations for the future are completely dashed, he cannot live with his memories, his mind is continually haunted by the fearsome experiences of bombardments, mutilations, deaths.  Deaths he witnessed, a death he caused, and the death of his own psyche.


We watch the pain, foreboding, confusion and rejection playing out on the screen,in a demonstration of love, anger, compassion and denouement.


Little wonder we'd never heard of the film; it cannot have represented anything remotely like the usual Hollywood box-office hit.