Film tackles service member suicide, post-traumatic stress

Film tackles service member suicide, post-traumatic stress


By: R.J. HEIM
Published: August 12, 2011

PROVIDENCE --
The movie "Happy New Year" is a fictionalized account of those who are wounded inside, some mortally.

"It's a very hard-hitting yet entertaining look at the perils of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) which affecting about 20 percent of our veterans who are returning home these days," said Lorel Manning, writer and director of "Happy New Year."

The full-length feature, expanded from a short film three years ago, is based on more than 80 interviews with those who've been through the experience or touched by it.

"You know I think the best art holds a mirror up to the society that it lives in and says, 'Do you like what you see?' And I think from my perspective as an actor and a producer of this film, that's essentially what we're doing with 'Happy New Year'. It's saying, 'You know, regardless of your feelings pro or anti war, there are men and women fighting a war for this country, and they are not necessarily taken care of as much as they should be when they come home'. Are we okay with that? And if we're not, what are we going to do about it," said Michael Cuomo, actor in "Happy New Year".
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