Ben: Yes.

BBO: So he really knows what he is talking about.

Ben: Yes, he knows the subject matter and for him it’s very personal as well.

BBO: Do you find that helpful? Or do you think it’s more complicated to make the character come alive because of his expectations?

Ben: Well, there is more pressure because, you know, Jonas knows what it is about and he knows what he is talking about.  So in that sense and in an attempt to be authentic with that kind of material, you don’t know how close you are getting, until you kind of get the nod from Jonas that it’s close. So, it’s daunting in that sense but it’s very helpful to have someone there to talk with about the material. When he talks about the material and he talks about the subject matter, you see it in his eyes, you see it in his body-language and you know how personal it is. So it is helpful but at the same time daunting.

BBO: While doing research I also found that I actually had no idea how many soldiers have this problem when they are coming back, and no only when they are coming back. They call it “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]

Ben: Uhuh

BBO: It’s actually a problem they already have while overseas. When they are fighting the wars, when they see people die. See friends die. They have a feeling of guilt when they survive, or when they go home and others have to stay. I had no idea how many soldiers this is happening to. There is organizations that do try to help but many soldiers need the help and don’t receive it.

Ben: Well, you know, when you consider the numbers of soldiers deployed around the world and the numbers in areas of conflict around the world, it’s obviously not strictly a US issue. Every country which has any history at all, has a history with this problem.  It’s been renamed over time. During  WWI it was called “Shell Shock”, back in Civil War it was called “Soldier’s Melancholy”. Greek playwrights wrote about  the difficulties that soldiers had, coming home from the wars back then. It’s a common difficulty and renaming it like we do in this generation to “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” doesn’t change the thread that runs throughout history and which runs throughout human experience. It behooves us well to occasionally remind ourselves that when our soldiers come home it’s not just the visible wounds that some of them carry. It’s an important topic from that respect, I think. And the numbers are, depending on what you read, startling at large. Most of us can understand and if we go and do something very intense, for any period of time, that it changes them, it changes the way we think, it changes the way we view the world and we accept that. After 9/11 people talked about being stressed out. That’s a single event which occurred in the blink of an eye and the impact of two airplanes and people were stressed out about it and some people are still struggling to get a handle on what they experienced in that period of time. So imagine what it is like for soldiers who go to the Middle East or anywhere else, or people living in the Middle East, are constantly surrounded by conflict, by war. It can take a tremendous toll on an individual. It may not always be visible or the most noticeable problem that they are having. I think it’s a subject that’s worth pursuing and taking a look at.