Mending the Line
admonition : Spoilers for fix the Line ahead .
Summary
The ending ofMending the Linereinforces its chief theme of confronting one ’s past tense and healing from suppressed psychic trauma . Directed by Joshua Caldwelland write by Stephen Camelio , the war dramatic event delves into the complex human relationship between scrap veterans and their traumatic experiences . At its core are two Marines profoundly scarred by their time in combat . heal the Lineopens with John Colter ( Sinqua Walls ) leading his platoon through the final daytime of deployment in Afghanistan , which apace turns into a harrowing ambush . tight - forward three months , and John finds himself undergoing reclamation back in Montana .
While his strong-arm injury are healing , his psychological trauma simmers beneath the surface , and he yearns to return to combat . Enter Ike Fletcher ( Brian Cox ) , a Vietnam veteran who finds comfort solely in tent-fly fishing , but is no longer capable to venture to the flow alone due to his age . As John and Ike form an improbable attachment , Lucy ( Perry Mattfeld ) , a local librarian grappling with the loss of her fiancé , also join their sportfishing outings . Friendship becomes vital for the primal trio ofMending the Linecharactersas they struggle to cope with their respective demons .
How Ike Helps John See the Light
John Finally Confronts His PTSD
Throughout the film , John remain in denial about his PTSD . thing go south when a reappraisal take for him unfit to return to full tariff status due to his poor mental health . This make him descend deeply into an alcoholic beverage - soaked helix , as his total identity and sense of ego are bond to being a Marine . Ike , meanwhile , assay to make contact with his grandson , but learns that he ’s been dead to his son ’s kinsfolk for year . The next dawning , John belong to see Ike , but can not incur him at his residence and sees an empty bottle of whiskey in the sink .
Turns out , Ike did not drink the intoxicant but went fishing on his own and burst by the river . John lambasts Ike for being delusional and doing something he is physically incompetent of doing , to which Ike points out that John is doing the same thing by insisting on returning to obligation . While lying in the hospital bed , Ike tells John the most authoritative line he needs to hear and share how his experience of the Vietnam War damaged him and led him to palpate like he did n’t merit love and therefore abandon his wife and son:“In the Word of God of every soldier ’s life , the military is a chapter . It never leaves you . But it ’s not , not the whole chronicle . ”
“ In the book of every soldier ’s life , the military is a chapter . It never leaves you . But it ’s not , not the whole story . ”
John and Lucy’s Closure Explained
Lucy Must Leave To Move On
This conversation prompts John to see Lucy and be honest with her ( and himself ) about his PTSD . Lucy also shares with John about how her fiancé took his own life , how she does n’t know how to move on from it , and how she needed John to show her how . She realizes that she ca n’t stay there anymore and want to physically leave the place and her X - fiancé ’s mother to have any hopes of go on . The two bidding farewell on this sentimental note . While their prospective romance never materialise , they retrieve closing through this conversation and enable each other to mend .
Lucy reads one final excerpt to John , who is still unconscious , and then leaves . She call her fiancé ’s female parent and state her that she wo n’t be around for a while and can not meet her any longer . Lucy stress that she loves her and will appease in feeling , and then motor off . This terminate signals Lucy ’s need to move on from her traumatic past . Staying around her fiancé ’s female parent and volunteering at the reclamation facility keeps her forever grappling with her loss . Leaving is her choosing to at last countenance it go .
Wes Studi reveals what he learned about pilot fishing on the set of Mending The line of business , and that he almost worked with costar Brian Cox on a a prior moving picture .
Custom image by Yeider Chacon
John Reunites Ike with His Son and Grandson
It Is John’s Final Gift To Ike
After finding out that Ike is on his deathbed , John drives to find Ike ’s boy and his family to distinguish them about Ike ’s level . While the moving-picture show does not reveal what John discusses with them , John returns Ike his medals for his service . John also wants to let go of his overhaul in the military machine as a core part of his identity operator . John then present another gift to Ike : Ike ’s Word and grandchildren who have come to see him . John allow for as Ike reconnects with his alienated son and meets his grandchild for the first fourth dimension , highlight the possible action of hope and reconnection .
John Takes Over From Ike
John Finally Finds Healing
After Ike clear away , John motivate into Ike ’s nursing home and looks after Ike ’s dog , while fly fishing on a daily fundament . John also offer to help oneself other state of war veterans learn fly fishing to heal in a community . It signals a full - circle moment for John , who now wants to help others the way Ike had help him . The film then cut to real - life footage of a Montana veterans groupWarriors & Quiet Waters , whose members practice fly angle to mend from PTSD .
Since the film was produced in coaction with the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense , it obviously refrains from overtly criticize the military or U.S. foreign insurance . It instead treats the traumas have by John and Ike as personal battle , rather than as product of big social government issue . Mending the product line ’s inspiring storyis ultimately about the need to confront one ’s pain , get along to term with one ’s realness , and encounter healing in community . The ending ofMending the Linesees all the three chief characters find closure in the agency that they need it .
They say all is fairish in love and war , and cinema has taken cracking liberties with the latter . However , it ’s also been impressively creative .
Joshua Caldwell directs Mending the Line, a dramatic war-adjacent film that follows a wounded veteran known as John Colter upon his return to the United States after Afghanistan. With difficulty overcoming his trauma and finding something to live for, he meets an older fisherman named Ike and a young woman named Lucy, who begin to help him change his outlook and find a way forward.
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Cast
Joshua Caldwell directs fix the Line , a striking war - adjacent moving-picture show that trace a wounded ex-serviceman known as John Colter upon his return to the United States after Afghanistan . With difficulty overcoming his trauma and finding something to live for , he meets an older fisher named Ike and a immature woman named Lucy , who begin to help him convert his outlook and find a way onward .
