The Ground Truth is a documentary about a subject that needs more attention -- veterans who've come home from the War in Iraq and are now facing problems in assimilating back into civilian life.  Its revelation is that our wounded vets -- with special attention paid to those who are psychologically wounded -- aren't getting the treatment they deserve from the government that employed, trained, and damaged them. Instead, their symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are ignored and their financial benefits and medical treatment are withheld. 

As filmmaking goes, this movie is about as spare and direct as can be, and  I'm not particularly fond of the find-fascinating-subject-and-just-shoot-it style of documentary, but here the subject is as strong as it gets, creating an exposé every concerned U.S. citizen should see.  Ultimately, on a more indirect level, it could become raw evidence of our times; I admit my mind actually wandered toward thinking about how differently wars have been fought, how ancient wars were unlimited in their barbarity, and how in contrast the modern age can watch a soldier traumatize himself based on guilt from conscientious acts of savagery (e.g., killing an unarmed woman or child). 

The Ground Truth actually says something concrete about the instilling of moral values in this kind of society and the depths of its effects on ordinary people. Even as a simple appeal to compassion, this movie can become a study of relative humanism. Its existence, then, can somehow make us feel lucky for living in a civilization where a plea to the conscience can be a rational idea at all. (Capsule review.)

(Released by Focus Films and rated "R" for disturbing violent content, and language.)

Review also posted on www.windowtothemovies.com.