True/False Films

How to Fold a Flag

In person: co-director Petra Epperlein

In 2003, four ordinary men were sent to fight the war in Iraq. When they returned, they were abandoned by their own government. Cut loose by the military, they are commanded to "return to normal life." But what, they wonder, is "normal"? The black college student who works in a plant suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. The white, gung-ho convenience store clerk copes by playing death metal. The Latino cage fighter with four kids believes his real self died on the battlefield. And the white school teacher is so disturbed by the lack of U.S. moral leadership that he runs for Congress. Filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker conduct a measured, yet ultimately searing, tally of the costs of war beyond the body count. As each soldier is denied treatment, unfairly discharged or smeared by powerful opponents, they discover a whole new battlefield at home. (BM)

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