In the Pipeline: The Ground Truth

In the Pipeline presents: Patricia Foulkrod’s The Ground Truth

The largest benefit for audiences in the recent rise of the documentary has been the increasing release of alternative sources on an international crisis. This has been evident nowhere more then with the on-going Iraq War as filmmakers continually find fresh perspectives absent from the media. The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends is the latest to offer a new side to the debate as it gives voice to the returning soldiers.

The film explores the costs of the war by following the training of soldiers, and their struggle to come to terms with their combat experiences as they return home. The film is composed of cases of soldiers who suffer illness, injury, and post-traumatic stress disorders. The consequences made all the more disturbing by an accompanying investigation into the military instructing the soldiers to take others’ lives with calm.

The hard-hitting subject of this documentary comes from filmmaker Patricia Foulkrod, a first-time feature director. Despite inexperience as a feature director, Foulkrod has a long history as a producer with credits that include The Linguni Incident, An American Rhapsody and, probably the jewel of her career, Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out. Foulkrod also brings a history with sensitive subject matter, having directed They’re Doing My Time, an hour-long doco on children whose mothers are in prison.

Foulkrod’s new film is described as a combination of both new and gleaned footage. It makes its case not only with interviews, but also footage taken from training videos and soldiers’ own footage that will undoubtedly add power to the punch. Foulkrod was quite aware of the challenges in dealing with such a controversial subject, and consequently the need to restrain herself. In an interview, Foulkrod recognizes the hardships of the documentary process, “The biggest challenge I have faced is making a film about killing and war while it is still going on and changing every week so [there are] many issues pertaining to this war.”

The documentary has received positive responses from audiences since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year. John Anderson, of Variety, asserts the film’s importance, stating, “the substance of the movie is potent, and so powerfully presented by those who have fought and are still fighting a controversial war, that the message of “Ground Truth” cannot be dismissed.” Likewise, James Greenberg, of Hollywood Reporter, praises Foulkrod for, “a fluid narrative that is quietly and cumulatively devastating.” Critics all seem to agree that Foulkrod’s new film will be one of the most hard-hitting of the year.

In another case of diminishing the window between cinema and on DVD, Focus Features will be releasing the documentary on DVD just 11 days after its theatrical release of September 15.