Addiction and PTSD: Go!

In Waltz with Bashir, one could argue that the filmmaker's creation of the film in the first place is an illustration of PTSD. Throughout the film, he incessantly interviews people, trying to differentiate what really happened from what he imagined and where he really was versus where he thought he was. In reference to his constant searching, his friend says, "You're obsessed. You're sick."

We also see other characters doing things to separate themselves from reality, like the guy who floats away on a... is she a mermaid? A mermaid-raft? It seems crazy to me that our bodies have the capability to do physical things to escape emotional burdens. Someone imagines his friends exploding on the boat while he floats peacefully on the nude blue giant.

A Scanner Darkly (ASD from here on out) deals with addiction. The opening scene shows *spoiler alert* symptoms of withdrawal as someone itches and showers bugs from his skin. The more he showers and scrubs, the more there seem to be. They come out of nowhere, and they don't quit! Soon afterwards, the bugs reappear and the guy calls a friend to tell him about it. The friend tells him to put the bugs in a jar. As in the war, this addict needs a way to separate reality from fantasy in his mind. He starts picking the bugs up and watching them crawl around, and I think he starts to feel a little better. Since the bugs are trapped in the jar, they can't all be on his person.

Another thing that really sticks out for me is that in war, people lose track of who they really are. Perfectly nice young men start using cars as if they're archery targets, but with their huge, military-grade guns. Hm, can I shoot THAT car in THIS window? Bang. Yup. There is absolutely NOTHING in their minds that says, Hey, what if there's a baby sleeping in that car? It become irrelevant. I don't understand the mentality at ALL. There's a scene that really upset me in Waltz: the soldiers see a car and shoot until everyone inside is dead. Turns out it was completely unnecessary. There was no threat to begin with. Is it killing out of habit?

In ASD, there is a guy giving a speech in a special suit that masks his identity completely. It hides his face, body... Even his voice. That's what it seems like people do when they're partaking in wars. It's like a long-term body mask. You keep your "real self" locked away for a while and let the "survival mode" take charge, not really worrying about the repercussions. When the guys who shot the car go and see its contents, no one appears to feel any remorse. I just don't get it.