“I’m 22 years old and I must have killed 30 people. The same thing that you were given badges for over in Iraq, would have you considered a serial killer over here. That’s a very weird thought to have running around in your head when it’s dark, going to sleep or late at night.”
There is no place for doubt, sadness and fear in the American army.
Still, many soldiers struggle with these feelings. Beer is Cheaper than Therapy portrays what goes on behind the facade of heroism and the ‘John Wayne mentality’.
BEER IS CHEAPER THAN THERAPY – you can buy and download the film in itunes:
for United States, for Canada, for Great Britain, for Australia
Review
DVD
Director
Simone de Vries
Dutch director Simone de Vries (1963), winner of Golden Calf (2007) for Touch me someplace I can feel, a documentary on John Callahan – cartoonist and singer/songwriter from Portland, OR.
She made films on different artists from all walks of life: Texas writer singer/songwriter Kinky Friedman, Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, Belgian cartoonist and painter Kamagurka, jewelry designer Ted Noten, photo collector and leading advertising man Erik Kessels- but also a poignant portrait of a lonely jew, walking the highways of Texas with a huge wooden cross in High on Jesus. Her latest documentary that Zeppers Film produced was a feature length documentary about a military town near Fort Hood, the largest base in the USA: Beer is cheaper than therapy.
Credits
writer & director Simone de Vries
photography Joost van Herwijnen
sound recording Eric Leek
editor Mario Steenbergen
music Robin Berlijn
sound design Hugo Dijkstal
local producer VS Michele Kim Carter
executive producer Willemijn Cerutti
commissioning editor VPRO Barbara Truyen