American Veteran

American Veteran is a feature length documentary telling the story of Army Sergeant Nick Mendes, who was paralyzed from the neck down by a massive improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2011, when he was 21. American Veteran follows Nick through the five year period after his injury - from the V.A. hospital bed where he spent 7 months recovering and learning to eat and even breathe on his own again, to the fully accessible home where he now lives with his new wife Wendy, a medical caregiver he met in the hospital. Presented in an unflinching, close-up style, the film brings us into Nick’s world as he studies for a real estate license and learns to do everything from posting on Facebook and playing video games to casting a fishing reel with his mouth. We’re with Nick as he endures an awkward Veterans Day parade and as he reunites with the soldier who pulled him from the truck just after it blew up. We also trace the unlikely love story of Nick and Wendy as they develop a deep emotional and physical connection neither could have imagined. The film weaves together Nick’s past and present to show a nuanced portrait of a quadriplegic soldier’s sometimes harrowing, sometimes romantic and often surprisingly funny life. (Sedona International Film Festival)