When the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, American war veterans who had served in Vietnam were especially troubled by parallels with their own experiences. No Unwounded Soldiers began in 2005 at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System hospital in West Haven, Connecticut, during a weekly drama therapy group led by drama therapist Mary Lou Lauricella.
It follows a group of veterans as they explore the deep and lasting effects that war has had on them, on their families, and on their communities.
“This powerful and moving film depicts the activities of a Drama Therapy program in the Department of Veterans Affairs at West Haven Hospital in Connecticut. An improvisational drama group of mostly older vets gather to share stories of trauma, rage, alienation and death – stories that eventually become the basis for a gripping theatre performance. Told with powerful feeling and wisdom, the drama group participants eventually form a tight bond because, as one says, as ‘it’s almost a kind of religion.’ Sharing memories of deaths of siblings or close friends, episodes of ‘friendly fire,’ and harrowing narrow escapes – these bind them together because they know all too well about trauma, suffering, guilt, and the need for love. They know, and want others to know, just how horrible war is and how it changes people so that life is never the same.”
— Eleanor Irwin, PhD, RDT, TEP
