Farewell Darkness
Life is tough.
If there’s one lesson that Michael Pasternack (Keith Compton) knows from experience in Daniel J. Pico’s “Farewell Darkness,” it is that life is tough. He’s learned it well at the hands of his family and through his military service. As a good son and soldier, he has dutifully constructed a shell to protect himself from such a verity, but when he returns from war emotionally scarred, he goes on the offensive to avenge his pain.

The tumult of Michael’s life is revealed via flashbacks as he returns to Chicago from a four-year deployment in Iraq with the Marines. Scenes of his alcoholic father Roman (Circus-Szalewski) teaching him harsh lessons blend in his mind with the horrendous sights of war. Michael has been effectually reduced to a bundle of nerves courtesy of post-traumatic stress disorder, which first evidences itself when he greets his girlfriend Rose (BriAnna Weaver) with a jealous fit. Innovative sound design additionally communicates Michael’s distress, drawing us into his mental state as noises reconnect him to his unpleasant memories.

The other side of Michael’s condition plays out with Rose as well as during a visit with the foster mother who raised him from a pre-teen (Rose Massano). Faced with these benign, loving characters, Michael is unable to reciprocate their feelings. Rose occasionally pierces his defenses, but her youthful inexperience leaves her unprepared for the complications the couple must face. A tragic aura looms over their frequent arguments, which are rendered futile by the emotional blockade between them.

A well-placed scene in which one of Michael’s superior officers encourages the troops to reenlist proves prophetic as he tells the men what to expect if they decide to return home. Struggling to reconnect with old friends and relations, Michael recognizes that he has completely changed from who he was and doesn’t know how to be a civilian anymore. Frustrated and disoriented, he decides to lash out at his father -- an enemy he can physically confront -- in order to rectify the suffering he imposed on him and his mother. “Farewell Darkness” takes on complex emotional issues, and the ensemble’s acting stays true to this fact. Perhaps the most heartrending confession comes when Michael reveals his perception of his mother. Because she enabled her husband’s drinking and abuse, Michael declares she was weak and ineffectual. Her empty promises to take Michael away have done him more harm than his father, but through all this, his loving allegiance with her is clearly what motivates his need for revenge.

Michael’s father’s crumbling character arc is also captivating. Each time he appears on screen, he has lost more control and, thereby, more terror. When he hears that Michael has joined the Marines, he comes to see him before he leaves. Offering admonitions for successful soldiering through a screen door, he reveals pride in his son just as he makes his own lack of fulfillment glaringly obvious. As a means of cementing he’s an unfit role model, a Dead End sign appears just over his shoulder.

Although several political viewpoints are bandied in “Farewell Darkness,” the film’s focus on one soldier objectively reinforces the fact that the Iraq War is affecting many American lives surrounding those who have served. In the case of Michael, as well as many others, the need to “support our troops” certainly extends beyond the battlefield to the conflict they face just coming home.

With distribution deals reportedly in the works, “Farewell Darkness” is having its world premiere May 2 at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center (tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster), and will then be shown May 7 as an official selection at the Delray Beach Film Festival.