
Honra ao Mérito
O filme acompanha a vida de vários soldados norte-americanos que retornaram das guerras do Iraque e do Afeganistão sofrendo de transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (PTSD, na sigla em inglês) e de outros traumas. Tais condições interferem nas suas rotinas e abala a vida de várias famílias.
O estresse pós-traumático é um elemento recorrente em filmes de drama e ação, especialmente aqueles que envolvem algum tipo de guerra. A síndrome faz com que as vítimas tenham dificuldade de se adaptar à rotina comum depois de terem vivido situações de extrema pressão e terror. Além disso, as vítimas de estresse pós-traumático são suscetíveis a “gatilhos”, ou seja, imagens, palavras ou situações que os forçam a reviver o cenário que causou o trauma – o que pode ter resultados desagradáveis.
“Honra ao Mérito” acompanha a vida de soldados norte-americanos que voltam para casa após passarem uma temporada de 15 meses no Iraque. Entre eles está Adam Schumann (Miles Teller), um jovem que retorna para a esposa e para os filhos mas começa a ter problemas para se readaptar à vida comum e sem perigos por todo o canto. O principal gatilho de Adam é relacionado ao fato de que ele não conseguiu salvar um colega de um prédio em chamas. Ele decide buscar ajuda para que encontre um grupo de apoio antes que o estresse pós-traumático leve a melhor sobre ele.
After a harrowing 15-month combat experience in Iraq, the much-decorated Adam Schumann (Miles Teller) returns home to Kansas and a loving wife, Saskia (Haley Bennett). Adam and Saskia have two young children, a daughter and an infant son born while Adam was still overseas. Adam suffers from PTSD as manifest by nightmares and frequent flashbacks for which his wife convinces him to seek help from an overburdened Department of Veterans Affairs. He also receives solace from two Iraq buddies living nearby, an American Samoan, Solo Aeiti (Beulah Koale), and Billy Waller (Joe Cole), who commits suicide in front of his fiancée (Erin Darke) after discovering she has taken all his money and their child and left him.
Adam’s unresolved psychological issues revolve around his failure to safely rescue a fellow soldier from a building under fire, Michael Emory (Scott Haze), who was dropped on his head and rendered hemiplegic but later expresses gratitude to Adam for being alive, and survivor’s guilt about letting Sergeant First Class James Doster (Brad Beyer) take Adam’s place on patrol one day. When the Humvee with Doster filling in for Adam makes a wrong turn and hits an improvised explosive device, Solo assists the men in their escape to safety, but Doster is inadvertently left behind and dies in the conflagration. Doster’s grieving widow, Amanda (Amy Schumer), who is best of friends with Saskia Schumann, finally gains closure as she learns the circumstances of her husband’s death towards the end of the movie and absolves Adam and Solo of responsibility for it.
Meanwhile, Solo suffers from such severe PTSD and memory loss that he is unable to fulfill a fervent desire to reenlist for another tour in Iraq. He falls in with a group of drug dealers led by a Gulf War veteran, Dante (Omar Dorsey). Adam rescues his friend and puts him on a Greyhound bus to California, where Solo will take Adam’s reserved place at a rehabilitation center specializing in the treatment of PTSD.
Sometime later, Adam returns from his own stay at the rehabilitation center, being greeted by his wife and children back in their original home.