Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. to my knowledge, there is no audio description for this title, though I’d be happy to hear one.

As a member of Film Independent, I get emails about various projects all the time, especially during awards season. I must have gotten at least four Sheepdog emails, and it was an effective marketing tool, because they made it seem like this little indie that could was the undiscovered gem of the year. As with most indies, I’ve come to expect that no audio description exists, although I’ve recently had two different titles where someone involved with the production has reached out and apologized that I didn’t get the track. perhaps Sheepdog does have it, and Virginia Madsen will reach out so I can tell her I still think her performance in Sideways was radiant. truly, a favorite film of mine. Madsen is the most recognizable star here, being the one with the Oscar nomination, though Vondie Curtis Hall (ER, Chicago Hope, Soul food) is pretty recognizable to anyone with a television, who has been alive for more than 30 years. I’m not sure the kids are binge watching his shows just yet, but you never know. Someday, perhaps. If you have a tween who is really excited to binge ER from start to finish, I ahve news for you. He’s either definitely going to be a doctor, or an entertainment journalist. there is no in between at this point.

Sheepdog follows a few other like minded projects recently focusing on Veterans, their trauma, and/or how we are systematically failing them. the documentary In Waves And war certainly hit that point home last year, but arguably so did My dead Friend Zoey, which had a granddaughter and grandfather from two different wars, with two very different ways of coping with PTSD. there’s also The Last Rodeo, which while not directly about veteran’s issues, doesn’t ignore it. Last year’s Mending The Line with Brian Cox also featured a veteran centric story, this time crossing the generational gap, and putting opposites together to learn from each other. All of these films, are good films. Some are great. That includes Sheepdog.

Director/Writer/Producer/Star Steven Grayhm once again taps into the idea that, at least on some level, we have failed those who fought for us, and we at bare minimum can be doing better, and should be. This taps into the generational gap again, focusing on how men from different wars experienced trauma, and were met with either no support, or nominal, upon returning. The younger half of this equation is haunted by his past, and after a trigger incident, ends up in court mandated therapy. This is how we get Madsen’s character involved, though she could have been a vet as well. As witnessed by Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in Causeway, or Kate Mara in Megan Leavy, these are still stories worth being told. She’s just here to help, listen, and provide a radical new therapy that hopefully will help our younger vet overcome his demons.

On the older side, we have a Vietnam war vet, (Curtis-Hall), who is trying to piece the broken remnants of his life back together. His backstory is a pervasively tragic minefield, and sadly there’s a lot of blame put on him, when he came out of a terrible conflict, where those who served our country were met with indifference or reviled. As a result, much like Ed Harris’s veteran in My dead Friend Zoey, he has internalized far too much, and it has quite literally cost him everything. He is making one final last ditch effort to repair his deeply fractured relationship with his daughter, who is so far removed from the concept of reconciliation, she focuses on pure avoidance.

Considering this movie falls way under most radars, i was surprised by how emotionally intelligent and engaging it actually is. Sometimes, when we continue to plow a certain field of like minded stories, the tales become old and derivative, but it becomes hard to use that here, since the only reason these stories exist, are because we still have not really improved anything. it’s like being told the same cautionary tale over and over, and repeating the mistake anyway. be careful, the stove top is on. Maybe you shouldn’t put your hand on it like the last 878 times I told you that? It bares mentioning and repeating, until there is a reconciliation of how we got here, and what we will do to change course, and the lessons learned to keep us from repeating history.

I’m not a veteran, as you may have guessed, but I have family who are, and they’ve spanned all these different wars, and suffered or not suffered depending on the luck of the draw in their deployment. But, as we continue to use our armed forces not just to protect and defend, but to police various conflicts across the globe, we will have veterans of conflicts you may not know anything about. It might be simple to pay respect to those who fought in notable conflicts, like this film uses, but there are far greater reaches of our military. We do not need to continue to propagate generations of men and women who have untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, and we need to make any and all resources available to them, so they can have the best next chapter of their life possible.

the most powerful moment in the film, for me, comes from Curtis-Hall, who in an outburst, explains what it was like for him to return, and how ashamed everyone was, unable to separate their disdain for those responsible for putting us in the Vietnam war, from those who fought in it, many of whom were drafted.

With solid performances across the board, sheepdog is yet another feather in the cap of a set of films designed to encourage empathy and understanding for those who survived, but were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. A resonant reminder we should have done better, and still have so much work to do.

fresh: Final Grade: 7.5/10