Wilfred La Salle’s indie picture “The Veteran” is the most American film review I could post this July 4th. A true indie production, the film — at 1 hour and 51 minutes — has heart. It’s a true passion project for La Salle, who follows his lead, U.S. Marine veteran Jose Torres (Yanko Valentin-Perez) with deference. While the film shows its shoestring budget with some of its costuming and special effects, it makes up for it with heart and emotion. As America turns 250, could there be a more patriotic story than a homeless veteran (Torres) meeting a benevolent hedge fund CEO (Lancelot E. Theobald Jr.) who have more in common than they both know, healing each other in ways only a film like this could offer?
“The Veteran” is written and directed by La Salle, who also does the film’s chief cinematography. The film is a slow burn. And while it’s sometimes too slow, it works due to the acting talent of both Valentin-Perez and Theobald Jr., both who put in great performances. Both men have an arc to transcend. Theobald Jr.’s Maxwell Cade juggles a company worth $400 million with a wife who wants children while he doesn’t. Yet it is Valentin-Perez’s Torres that burdens the most. As a Gulf War veteran who first hurts his back during combat and becomes addicted to opiates — and then ultimately loses his family in a tragic accident when he returns home — he carries little but the pain of loss. The film takes place in New York City, the perfect setting for a film that starts rough but ends sweetly. In a city where the homeless are walked over or ignored, Cade makes a difference. Maybe for no deeper reason than he tries.
Maybe it’s not a handout; maybe it’s just a hand…
It’s no surprise that La Salle’s production is based on real life. The end of his film shows numbers that roughly 35,000 veterans make up the homeless population. And rightly, La Salle’s film takes necessary shots at both the American citizens that judge them and the understaffed and underfunded Veterans Administrations that further the problem. As we start the film with Torres on a tour in the Middle East — hurting his back in the process of saving one of his fellow soldiers — it’s not hard to sympathize with him. This is even as he becomes hopelessly addicted to Oxycodone, despite the warning of a brother-in-arms (played wonderfully by Kyle Bland). Torres is eventually honorably discharged. It’s the first of many falls down the ladder of life he will take throughout “The Veteran’s” run-time. And during it all, Valentin-Perez makes us believe his plight. I thoroughly believed Torres was first a skilled soldier and later an addict due to his excellent physical performance.
“The Veteran” is really split into two parts. One is Torres’ opening with the military and his ultimate homelessness, while the second deals with Cade’s big heart and struggles at his Fortune 500 company. Cade continually butts heads with his Head of Investor Relations, Dalton (Michael DeSimone) and his CFO, Nolan (Morris Napolitano), both of whom seemed to give their heart away with their MBAs. Both stick their nose up at Max for wanting to help Torres when not openly mocking the veteran. It’s here the film can sometimes become unkind and redundant, and maybe too forceful in its moralizing. The two — aside insulting the veteran themselves — attempt to curtail Max’s involvement by reciting nearly every conservative talking point I’ve heard, from “they’re too lazy to get a job” to “they want a handout, etc.” But La Salle is a good writer. One of my favorite pieces of dialogue in the film is when Max responds earnestly, “It’s not a handout. Maybe it’s just a hand.” La Salle cares about his topic here, and it shows.
Low budget but big heart
That’s not to say the film is without fault. Its shoestring budget can become apparent at times, the most notable the costume design for Torres once homeless, who wears what looks to be a prop beard and long hair. I can’t help but wonder if letting Valentin-Perez remain without this ubiquitous homeless look would have sufficed better. But it’s a small criticism. Valentin-Perez narrates a lot as the veteran rather than speaking directly. As he suffers indignities — along with visits to the grave of his lost wife and son — his narrations become poetry. In the third act, he works his way into your soul. Without being forceful or manipulative, “The Veteran” allows you to empathize with homeless men and women we see on the street. It’s hard to come away from La Salle’s film without taking an honest inventory of the ways we often think of this population, along with the often unintentional judgements we make.
The ancillary characters in “The Veteran” are good, also, especially an MTA bus driver played by Justin Rodriguez, Dale Grant, a fellow homeless man, and Ieda Favo, who plays Max’s uber-patient wife, Naomi. The latter has an arc that could have been written more lazily, but luckily La Salle knows what he’s doing. A talk Max, Naomi, and Torres have in the film’s dying frames is among the most empathy-garnering I’ve seen. It examines the pain from everyone involved and makes it characters answer for it, while also letting them be seen in return. It ends in a sweet, charming way this world could use more of. And under it all, a solemn, hopeful score selected by Director La Salle underlines the proceedings, injecting feelings of hope, dolor, and brightness in equal measure.
An important film this Independence Day
“The Veteran” is not a perfect film. It has its flaws, as any independent film on a small budget will. But if you can look past that, you will find a touching picture that garners empathy and heart. It’s a low-budget film and often looks like it, but in all the ways that matter it’s large and impactful. And given how much our country talks up veterans — but often how little it does to actually help them — hopefully La Salle’s picture will be a wakeup call to do more for the men and women who make America’s freedom possible than just lip service. As the credits roll and we see numbers and newscasts reflecting the suffering of servicemen and women, one image stays in our mind: one man who lost everything did not give up, and another who spent most of his life trying to be successful discovers the real meaning of that word in the film’s dying frames. All-in-all a feel-good film and the perfect movie to watch this Independence Day.
“The Veteran” is available to watch on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Fox Soul. You can watch the film’s trailer in the window below. You can also follow Wilfred La Salle on his official website.
