A A group of former US Navy SEALs talk about their experiences with PTSD in this gripping, if somewhat formulaic, documentary by John Schenk and Bonnie Cohen. Ultimately, this is something of an advertisement for a new therapeutic protocol in which veterans take hallucinogens. ibogaine (derived from an African bush) and 5-MeO-DMT (derived, as in William Burroughs's novel, from a river toad); a treatment that, when heard described by subjects, can work wonders on the battle-scarred and suicidal minds of its users. Currently, the treatment is only available in a Mexican clinic because the drugs have not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, but a bunch of scientists associated with Stanford University Brain Stimulation Laboratory Its clinical effects are being studied, and the film works hard to make it as believable as possible.
To be clear, we're not necessarily questioning the effectiveness of drugs, but this particular film seems to have little interest in cognitive science and allows interviews with scientists with interesting glasses and fancy vocabulary to act as guarantors that it all actually works. More compelling are the testimonies of the half-dozen men we meet, who bravely discuss their pain and suffering on camera.
The experiences of former soldiers in the theater of war, especially in Afghanistan in the early 2000s, left many feeling like a shell of their former selves and tormented by constant thoughts of suicide. One soldier testifies that the abuse he experienced as a child, which contributed significantly to his decision to become a soldier, was an even more serious component of the trauma he suffered, which he could only face while under the influence of these psychedelics.
Since there's nothing more boring than watching someone do drugs, the film decides to illustrate the rides with slick animation that features images of our subjects spinning in space, surrounded by memories that assault their senses. At one point, we see a soldier spending hours on the couch watching the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, a detail that seems delightfully funny and at odds with much of the film's dark atmosphere. This solemnity is emphasized by the music, which seems to consist largely of drawn-out Philip Glass-style chords played on violins, repeated ad infinitum, a style of musical shorthand that immediately signals tragic cycles of pain.
Waves and War hits Netflix November 3rd.
