Logline
Homemade is the cinematic and profoundly intimate five-year journey with decorated Force Reconnaissance Marine, Adam Sorensen, as he navigates civilian life and the effects of Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, and addiction on his marriage, family and work. Durational, astonishing, unflinching – Homemade exposes the challenge of transition from combat to civilian life igniting a crucial conversation and shift in our perspective on caring for our returning veterans and their families.
Synopsis
Adam Sorensen, a bright, blonde hair and blue-eyed young man from Salt Lake City, grew up in the majesty of the Utah landscape. His family spent a majority of his childhood exploring the southwest, adventuring and adrenaline seeking. Adam excelled at everything he did. An Olympic quality gymnast, straight A student and humble teenager, Adam decides to join the Marines after running into some trouble with the law and possession of illegal substances.
His goal was an adrenaline driven job and quickly passed the training to become an elite Force Reconnaissance Marine. Suddenly his life changed, and one night, on his third deployment, he was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) after fellow Marine Jonathon Blank tripped on a wire in Sangin, Afghanistan. Adam returns home diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress. Jonathon returns a double amputee.
Immediately Adam meets Victoria in a bar in San Diego. They marry three months later and the Sorensen’s are re-stationed to Columbus, Ga.
When we met Adam and Victoria, it was 2012 and they were already living in Columbus.
We considered him the success story of life after combat and in many ways he absolutely was. Despite his injuries, Adam decides to attend Officer Candidacy School and graduates as an honor graduate breaking several physical, academic and leadership records. Victoria is optimistic about their future and although she is putting her life on hold, she is confident that their relocation to Salt Lake City, Adam’s home, will provide a different life for them both.
Now in Salt Lake City, Adam begins a new and more civilian life as a student, husband and son. Soon Jonathon moves to the Salt Lake area and grows close to Adam’s mom who is also wheelchair bound due to Multiple Sclerosis.
Jonathon frequently visits the Sorensen home. Relationships and heartbreak are Jonathon’s biggest hurdles as he re-integrates into civilian life. Still passionate about the Marine Corps and the life of a Marine, his time is spent outside hunting, exploring, and reflecting.
The majesty of the Utah landscape and Adam’s link to childhood becomes a sharp contrast to his increasingly isolated and altered life with Victoria. Adam is awarded Veteran of the Year by Utah State University in 2014 and maintains a 4.0 average although short-term memory loss, anxiety, and addiction infiltrate his daily life.
With unprecedented access to the home life of Adam and Victoria, the couple struggles to overcome shattered trust after Victoria discovers Adam has been stealing her pain medications.
Civilian culture, pressure to succeed and a disintegrating relationship soon affect his ability to cope. Adam loads his weapon and threatens to kill himself in front of Victoria and her Mother, Elizabeth. He calms down, hands over the weapon and immediately seeks psychiatric care.
Claustrophobic and full of marital stress, substance abuse, and arguments, the Sorensen’s reveal how the invisible wounds of combat and the domestic pressures of daily life in America can so profoundly effect and unravel a once bright and happy couple. Adam “suffers in silence” – undetectable to the outside world, including his USMC superiors, professors, schoolmates and parents, though the camera gains access to his constant struggle. Much of the film at this point in the story takes place inside the Sorensen’s small home and over phone calls from Rehab.
In the spring of 2015 Adam drifts in and out of rehab for addiction and PTS. The number of medications he is on continue to grow as the doctors try to find the right “cocktail.” Adam’s motivation, physical wellbeing, and strength continue to decline. His behavior becomes increasingly unpredictable and Victoria, unhappy in the relationship and frustrated with her husband continues to trigger conflict.
Victoria is also becoming increasingly sick and as she considers divorce she fears the reality of loosing the health care benefits available to a military spouse. After a few more months of therapy Victoria files for divorce.
Adam makes a final and unsuccessful suicide attempt, is picked up by the USMC and is quickly enrolled in the Wounded Warrior Battalion West and eventually medically returned with full benefits. With the support of family and friends, the two independently seek wellness and reveal their determination to heal from invisible wounds and disease.
JASON MARIS, Director/DP:
Jason Maris is from the Chicagoland area and moved to Atlanta in 1993. He is a freelance editorial, commercial filmmaker and photographer with over twenty years of experience in the industry. He most recently worked on the award-winning feature length documentary Imba Means Sing as the Director of Photography.
Jason has worked with JWT, the advertising agency for the United States Marine Corps, as a recruitment photographer since 1994. His images are featured nationally on billboards, posters and in books and brochures, as well as on the web. Over 600,000 men and women have enlisted in the Marines since Jasonʼs photographs have been in circulation, because of this, he feels a tremendous responsibility to every Marine. After 9/11, he volunteered his time on awareness building campaigns for The Bob Woodruff Foundation and Travis Manion Foundation. These experiences clarified that a greater understanding of the post combat landscape was extremely important to him.
Jason set out, with the help of Danielle Bernstein, to make a durational movie illustrating the ambiguous nature of Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury through the eyes of a family.
DANIELLE BERNSTEIN, Producer/Editor:
Danielle Bernstein is an award winning filmmaker and the founder of Clear Films Productions. Most recently, she directed and edited the award-winning feature length documentary Imba Means Sing. In December 2015, Imba, available on Netflix, was released by in 37 languages, in over 100 countries and screened at the United Nations.
Her directorial debut, When Clouds Clear, attended over 50 film festivals and was the recipient of numerous awards. Danielle has earned an INDIEFest Award of Excellence for Women Filmmakers, Cine Golden Eagle Award, Accolade Award, the New York State Council of the Arts Grant, and a First Pix NextPix. She currently leads the Atlanta Chapter of Film Fatales, a national network of women directors.
Danielle’s mission is to positively influence the community around her one film at a time. Jason and Danielle are partners in life and in film. Outside of their media endeavors, they have a growing family and are based in Atlanta, Georgia.