'This film is about saving as many lives as possible': Writer, actor releases movie detailing struggles of veterans with PTSD

A film addressing post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by frontline soldiers and combat medics debuted in theaters on Friday.

The movie’s writer and actor, Alexander Randazzo, attended the opening of “Lonesome Soldier” at the Regal Crossroads Theater in Cary. The film opened in Greensboro, Wilmington, Charlotte and Southern Pines as well.

He said he picked the theater because it’s where he grew up watching movies.

“This is where my dream of being a writer and an actor [began],” Randazzo explained. “It is just awe-inspiring.”

The film follows the life of Harlow, who goes from being a young dreamer to a haunted war veteran coping with the effects of PTSD. The film explores the disorder’s effects on not only soldiers but their loved ones as well.

The film was based on the novel “The Lonesome Soldier: The Long Road Home” by Linda Lee.

The film is Randazzo’s passion project, something he says is all thanks to one of his family members.

“I got involved in the project six years ago when I got introduced to the real-life Jackson Harlow,” he explained. “It was a text message of a screenshot of a Facebook post sent to my mother [and] sent to me.”

Randazzo said he was in film school when he received the text message, but it inspired him to move to Los Angeles, started working on the script and researched the role.

He spent time with dozens of veterans who have experienced PTSD either indirectly or firsthand, from frontline soldiers to field medics and VA hospital workers.

“It was important to me to push myself as far as I could in understanding just a tiny fraction of what they go through,” he explained.

As for audience reaction, Randazzo said nothing made him happier than hearing what veterans themselves said about the film.

He recalled one moment at Fort Moore in Georgia a few days ago.

“I had a lady who had been serving for over 20 years come up to me in tears and said, ‘This is the film the military has been waiting for about this subject matter for the last 30 years,’” Randazzo said.

Now, Randazzo wants his film to inspire others to understand what service members face and to know they can help a friend or family member with PTSD see what they need most: hope for the future.

“This film is about saving as many lives as possible,” he explained.

Lonesome Soldier will run in theaters through Veterans Day.