The Dry Land

It's a simple fact that plenty of soldiers are common people who come from nothing and were going nowhere. They didn't necessarily join the military out of a sense of patriotism. They just needed a purpose for living.

A lot of common guys are also trashy. None of these facts detract from the value of their service. Sometimes we see soldiers in an overly idealistic way, as if they are our patriotic, Christian heroes. Some are, but many aren't. That's just life.

Having said that, it almost goes without saying, that watching common trashy people live their depressing lives, is boring.

Certain things, like scenery, multi-dimensional characters, or some kind of epiphany, might save a picture. This one didn't have it.

As some other reviewers put it, Dry Land was indicative of the storyline and pace as well as the terrain. Performances were adequate, if clichéd.

James (Ryan O'Nan) returns home to Texas from the Iraq war with memory loss. He suffers from PTSD and roughs up his loving wife Sarah (America Ferrera) in his dream state. His mother Martha (Melissa Leo) is sick. He starts work at the slaughterhouse with his best friend Michael (Jason Ritter). He seeks help after another episode. Sarah leaves him. He visits fellow troubled soldier Raymond Gonzales (Wilmer Valderrama) who leaves his family to join him on a road trip.

Relative unknown Ryan O'Nan gets the lead in this movie. I don't dismiss his quiet performance. I would rather Valderrama switch it up with the reserved explosive role. It would be more interesting to see him act outside his comfort zone. O'Nan has an everyman feel and sometimes fades into the background. It's a sincere movie with solid actors doing fine work.

This Film is recommended for those who want to find out about PTSD and don't have a clue what this thing is, just that returning Soldiers suffer from this "Disease". Problem is after viewing this almost unbearably Melodramatic and manipulative Movie you might start developing symptoms of your own. It is that depressing.

Do we really need a Cancerous Mother, a traumatized, possible cheating Wife, a job in a Slaughterhouse with graphic bloodletting, a paraplegic Comrade who lets go a ridiculous metaphor, insensitive Family Members and co-workers, a standoffish and selfish Friend from his Platoon in Iraq, all to illustrate in-adaptability? There are more understated, over the top inclusions. This is all so heavy handed while pretending not to be.

This is blunt, pounding away without consideration for even the slightest bit of elation to enter this exercise in despair. If you are hit in the head enough times, even with a soft object, the result is a numbness. So it defeats the purpose to inspire awareness to the subject at hand and tragically the audience becomes Collateral Damage.

Yet another Hollywood portrayal of soldiers returning from war as a bunch of drunken psychotic screw ups. This liberal waste of film even includes references to Vietnam just to ram the point home.

There isn't really a storyline in the film as it isn't necessary to make it's point. There is never any real dramatic basis for the problems with the character for which we are supposed to feel sorry so it is hard to feel anything.

If you are really into this sort of thing, a better film (along the same lines) is "Brothers" which does a better job with the same basic theme.

In the first 20 minutes we get a graphic scene of a cow being shot through the head. Blood and mucus pour out her nose as she exhales her last breath. It's real (no props, cgi or animatronics). American Humane Association inspectors were not on hand because the production company never informed them of the scene (you can verify this at the AHA film rating website).

It may not make a difference to most viewers, but if you don't support films with actual animal killings & cruelty, steer clear of this one. I hear there's a later scene of a rabbit being shot, but I didn't bother sticking around for that. There are many reasons to kill, but entertainment is not one of them.