Emmanuel Church To Host Award-Winning Film for Veterans Day

Veterans and their families from wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam participate in the making of "The Welcome"

Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Parish Hall, Emmanuel Episcopal  Church

In honor of Veterans Day, Emmanuel Episcopal Church will present the award-winning documentary film “The Welcome” on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Parish Hall.

Filmed in southern Oregon, “The Welcome” offers a fiercely intimate view of life after war: the fear, anger and isolation of post-traumatic stress that affects vets and family members alike. As we join these vets in a small room for an unusual five-day healing retreat, we witness how the ruins of war can be transformed into the beauty of poetry.

And at the end, when this poetry is shared with a large civilian audience, we begin to understand that all of us are a vital piece of the Welcome as Veterans try to find the way back home.  Their examples of unflinching honesty, courage and love lift us up, inspiring all of us once again to feel our common humanity, always the first casualty of war.

The film continues to win Audience Favorite awards at film festivals across the country, including Ashland and Mill Valley Film Festivals, as well as Best Drama at DocuFest Atlanta.

Admission is free to this event and veterans are most welcome. A discussion will follow the screening.

The Welcome: A Healing Journey for War Vets and Their Families

“They are coming home and they need us to stand up and pay attention. They all have families. They live in our communities. And these men and women all, whether injured or not, have something incredibly important to offer. If you can, hire a vet or a family member. Offer to baby sit, buy a coffee, lend a hand, listen. It will help all of us.”

How the Movie Was Made

“The only really hard part was finding the Veterans who would be willing to participate in a very unusual retreat – and this effort took many months.

After all, why would Veterans, especially Vietnam Vets who learned early to mistrust civilian motives, believe that they were not being set up for disappointment or even ridicule?  And the younger vets, many too young or too shaken to believe in an effort like this one, were understandably reluctant to sign up for this potentially very weird and very public event.  …

“So we went on the road and made all of this effort extremely personal.  We met with Vets from LA to Seattle in Vet Centers, coffee shops and personal homes.  Without fail they were courteous, even curious, but always reluctant.  They needed to know us personally and to get it that our motives were not political or frivolous or exploitive.

“We ended up meeting personally with scores of veterans, including all of  the Veterans who chose to participate, either in groups or one on one where they could check us out.  The Vet Centers in Portland and Grants Pass were the most supportive and many of the Veterans we met with came through those organizations.

“We met with many veterans who either wanted no part of this event or who were so clearly struggling with the intensity of their war experience that the retreat would not have been safe for them at that time.  In the end,  twenty three men and women stepped forward to come to the retreat:  seventeen combat vets (men and women) and six spouses, partners or parents.  We looked for Vets from any wars, especially Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and emphasized the importance of women vets and family members as well.

“On Memorial Day, 2008, these men and women left the isolation and safety of four days of intimate and intense privacy together, climbed on a bus (donated) and went into Ashland to be received by their civilian neighbors.  In an astonishing three hour show the vets entered into kind of poetic conversation with the sold out audience.  Focused around an ancient story told by Meade, the Veterans and family members told a powerful “story” of their own, bringing ovations, tears, laughter and an often stunned, almost reverent silence.

“This event did not remove the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress.  But it taught us that true healing is in reconnection, understanding and acceptance on a community wide level.  Without this, veterans and their families are too often destined to remain alone, fighting memories and fears of a war long (or not so long) passed.  In Ed Tick’s words, “Healing means sharing the burden”.  That is what happened in Ashland, Ore. at the Memorial Day performance.

“We are incredibly honored that these men and women were willing to take a chance with us.  Each of them are truly amazing people, and while some of them are featured in the film much more than others, it took all of them equally to make it happen.  This kind of retreat had never been done before, where the retreat itself would be focused around ancient stories, rituals and the writing of personal poetry.  And where the culminating event would be a ceremonial coming together of the Vets and family members with the public in a large public ceremony of listening and receiving.

For that we also owe deep gratitude to the community of Southern Oregon.  They taught us that if you give people an idea and a direction, we will do the right thing.  It is our hope that this film will provide the idea to communities all over the country.  The people will do the rest.”

 (From the website, www.TheWelcomeTheMovie.com)