The Chris Hedges Report Podcast with Talia Lugacy & Eli Wright

The real story of war is never told by Hollywood. Its senselessness, cruelty, gruesomeness and impersonalized wholesale industrial slaughter of innocents are redeemed for the old cliches of glory, honor, heroism and patriotism. The power of the lie makes it nearly impossible for those who return from war and speak the truth about war to be heard. Talia Lugacy in her new independent film This is Not a War Story rips back the veil on the vast enterprise of death that war is and tells the unflinching and painful story of the veterans who return, maimed physically and emotionally, coping with the deep existential crisis that comes with knowing we are not a good country or a virtuous people, that we are not the protectors of democracy and liberty, that we are not all powerful and destined to be triumphant. The film opens with the death of the veteran Timothy Reyes, a hustler on the New York City subway system who overdoes on pills and dies in an empty subway car. It goes on the follow the struggle of another veteran, Will LaRue, who was holding Timothy up, helping him battle back against his demons. LaRue seeks refuge in a multi-generational community of artist veterans, who make handmade paper out of military uniforms they shred pulverize into paper they use to express their rage, humor, memories, trauma, loss and hopes through art and poetry. The veteran Isabelle, played by Talia, joins this community. She and LaRue navigate a world where they no longer fit and are not understood. This film features a supporting cast of Iraq and Vietnam veterans, as well as their original artwork, poetry and music. Joining me to discuss the film is Talia Lugacy who wrote, directed and acted in the film and Eli Wright who was an Army combat medic in the US Army in Iraq and practices the craft of making handmade paper from military uniforms with fellow veterans in communities across the country. He also appeared in the film