Gary Sinise Says New Documentary Shows Vets ‘You Can Move On and Have a Happy Life’ (Exclusive)

• Brothers After War, a new documentary executive produced by Gary Sinise tells the stories and struggles of more than a dozen veterans after they come home from war in Iraq and Afghanistan
• The movie by filmmaker Jake Rademacher is a sequel to his 2009 documentary Brothers At War, that saw Rademacher follow his two brothers into combat in Iraq
• The Gary Sinise Foundation has donated $150,000 in movie tickets so veterans and first responders and their families can see the film for free

When actor and filmmaker Jake Rademacher first told his brother Joe, then an Army ranger sniper, that he wanted to make a documentary following him and their sibling Isaac in their deployment to Iraq in 2005, Rademacher’s little brother was skeptical.

“He didn’t get it, but he went along with it because he’s my brother,” Rademacher says.

At the premiere of that film, Brothers At War, in 2009, Joe was nervous. “It was a very personal look at him, and all his buddies from sniper school were in the audience,” says Rademacher, 49. But the film ended up receiving a standing ovation. “It was a turning point. He realized, ‘They’re not looking at me with judgment. They’re looking at me with acknowledgement.'”

That kind of raw insight—veterans sharing stories and helping other vets—was what initially brought Gary Sinise on board as executive producer of the film. “I was so taken by it and moved by it,” says the Forrest Gump and CSI: NY actor, who had already had a long history of outreach to vets. “It was a perfect visual look at military family life.”

When Rademacher turned to his siblings again for his new documentary, Brothers After War, which chronicles the struggles they, and other vets, have faced after coming home after service, this time Joe was fully on board. And he opened up in way that surprised even his older brother.

In one of the most poignant moments of the film, Joe, who has deployed overseas nine times, tells Rademacher that years earlier after returning home, he found himself in his garage with his finger on the trigger of a gun, ready to take his own life. It’s a scenario many veterans know all too well—more than 6,000 vets die by suicide each year, and the rate of suicide among vets is twice the national average.

“His story is at the very heart of this film,” Rademacher says of his brother, who is now 39, married with five kids and working as a banker. “He really understood by opening up and telling me something he’s never told me before, it’s going to tell other veterans it’s okay to be vulnerable and talk. And we have found that talking about your experiences is how you start to heal from them.”

Sinise says there’s another lesson in Joe’s story — and in the stories of many of the other veterans Rademacher follows in Brothers After War, in select theaters nationwide beginning Feb. 28. “At the end of the film, you see he’s a happy family guy,” says Sinise, who executive produced the second film as well. “We want veterans to see that. We want them moving forward. Process your war years, but don’t let them completely and totally define you. You can move on and have a happy life.”

The actor discovered the same sort of inspiration playing Lt. Dan Taylor opposite Tom Hanks in 1994’s Forrest Gump. The character was a Vietnam vet disabled in the war who struggled after coming home, but who later came to find his purpose. It’s a role that has given shape to Sinise’s real life.

“The story of Lt. Dan is very positive, and it’s a story I’ve carried since I played the part,” says Sinise, who in 2011 started the Gary Sinise Foundation, which supports vets and which has donated $150,000 in movie tickets so that vets, first responders, and their families, can see the film for free. The Foundation has also sponsored workshops showing Brothers At War and Brothers After War and facilitating discussion with vets. “What’s great is that Lt.Dan makes peace at the end. And we want that story for everybody who serves our country.”

Rademacher’s new film catches up with several other veterans from his first documentary, including his brother Isaac, now 47 and married with three kids, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before starting a land renovation business, as well as Master Sgt. Derreck K. Sfachios Fischer, a paratrooper who now works as a sky-diving instructor — and who took Rademacher for a jump.

Poor eyesight kept Rademacher from signing up for military service himself so the filmmaker says his own mission has been to put the spotlight on those who have served.

“I haven’t worn the uniform of our nation — I would’ve loved to — but I think there’s something valuable about saying, ‘These guys’ stories matter,'” he says. “I think the best part of my generation were the ones who volunteered to serve the rest of us. A lot of them put their lives on hold for 20 years and there was a major impact on their family. We want people to meet these people who’ve done so much for us.'”