“Men in a cage” is a very acute documentary on post-traumatic stress in certain soldiers, and on its consequences, which try to be repaired in an experiment carried out in a kennel near Carcassonne.
In Berriac, the Carcassonnaise Society for Animal Protection (SCPA), collects abandoned dogs, often injured. Broken jaws. And among the healers, there is Vincent. Former soldier, wounded in the war, suffering psychologically. He got away with it thanks to his dogs. An experiment was thus born, supported by a soldier still in activity. Volunteers were successfully given a dog. This is the case of Christopher, traumatized by the Sahel and the jihadists, he no longer thought he could get out of it. Thanks to his dog, he reconnected with the world, and with those around him. A documentary broadcast this evening on France 3 Occitanie and available on the france.tv platform in preview now.
A very sensitive documentary
Post-traumatic stress, with symptoms and treatments as diverse as the events that produce it, has this consistency: it is an invisible handicap, a silent pain, which when it also affects men who have voluntarily dedicated their lives to others, asks only to remain hidden. We tell ourselves that we are the strongest, until the day when the suffering becomes the strongest.
Recently, the Ministry of the Armed Forces set up an experiment for dogs and men to repair themselves. The “great mute” has exceptionally welcomed the camera of director Jérôme Sesquin, who signs a very sensitive documentary there.
Mood swings, a spinning brain…
The first have been abandoned and are languishing at the SPA awaiting possible adoption. The second are soldiers whose joy of living has abandoned them. Following a traumatic event, they continued their previous life, before becoming other people. Mood swings, sleepless nights, a spinning brain…
Thanks to the dogs of which they will learn to become the masters, in a refuge near Carcassonne, they too will slowly get back to life and find themselves.
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This documentary, the director Jérôme Sesquin took more than a year and a half to shoot it, following two soldiers helped by dog handlers. Shot in the manner of the series Striptease or a reality show, without commentary, the film takes us to the heart of the reconstruction with a rare sensitivity.
Of men and cagesby Jérôme Sesquin, broadcast on Thursday May 11, 2023 on France 3 Occitanie at 11:01 p.m., will be available on the france.tv platform until June 11, 2023.