Let There Be Light 
Directed by John Huston
Written byline John Huston and Charles Kaufman
1980/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
Narrator: However different the symptoms, these things they have in common: unceasing fear and apprehension, a sense of impending disaster, a feeling of hopelesness and utter isolation.
The documentary was made in 1946 but it was not released until 1980. It’s an interesting look at the what we would now call PTSD.
The film was made at an army hospital that treated soldiers who were suffering from “psychoneurosis” (PTSD) on their return to the U.S. The main treatment seemed to have been giving the men some kind of hypnotic drug and then hypnotizing them to reverse their psychosomatic symptoms. This works like a charm in the film.
Although the documentary does portray the army program in a positive light it evidently was not positive enough for the authorities and was shelved.
I’m glad it was released as I have a weakness for WWII documentaries. I also liked seeing what mental health care was like in the 1940s.
