San Diego veteran's film tackles PTSD with raw honesty
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A shot from the movie "Turmoil." Photo: Courtesy of Dante Trinidad
Despite having no experience making movies, a San Diego veteran-turned-nurse created a dark comedy that's now winning awards.
The big picture: "Turmoil" tells the story of a homeless veteran who battles the traumas of war by joining a martial arts gym.
- The brainchild of Dante Trinidad, it uses real service members and veterans as its cast and crew, who were often prompted to improvise their way through scenes.
Driving the news: "Turmoil" won the Audience Choice Award at the Santa Monica Film Festival in March and was just picked for the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival in September.
Backstory: Trinidad deployed to Iraq in 2004 as a medic and has worked for the VA as a nurse for 13 years.
- He told Axios that he suffers from PTSD, and works daily with other veterans in the same boat.
- Trinidad decided he wanted to create a movie that would honor the struggle of veterans after a veteran from his martial arts gym took his own life.
There was no script. Instead, he put combat veterans, doctors and chaplains in scenes and told them, "Go, let's just do it."
- That gives the movie an authenticity you won't see in Hollywood, he said.
Case in point: The movie's military humor particularly shines through during a scene that centers around relieving yourself in a porta-potty, Trinidad said.
- "People would joke, 'Yeah, we get blown up, but at least you die having fun, taking a poop,'" he said. "You have to risk your life just to poop."
How it works: Trinidad started work on "Turmoil" three years ago. He gathered a three-person crew, all of them new to filmmaking.
- "Ignorance is bliss. If I'd known what I was up against, I wouldn't have done it," he said.
Trinidad didn't expect his film would reach such levels.
- When it was screened at the Fight Back Film Awards, he was surrounded by Oscar-winning directors and didn't expect much of the night beyond a few free brews.
- "I was drunk, just drinking my ale, and I was just happy to be there," he said. "All of a sudden I hear them call 'Turmoil' for best feature."
For Trinidad, the film's message is brutally honest.
- "You think the world owes you healing — it doesn't, it gives you pain," he said. "Sometimes it's OK to be in pain, but you have to ask for help. You're not alone."
To see the movie: It's streaming on Xolo.tv and Trinidad hopes for a wider release later this year.
Access a veterans crisis line here or by dialing 988.