My Dead Friend Zoe: PTSD Becomes a Literal Near-Death Experience in a Touching Tale
By John Kirk
Rating: A-minus
Losing a friend is difficult enough to recover from. But when that friend is a fellow soldier, it can be compounded by survivor’s guilt, PTSD, as well as the fear of the unknown upon returning to civilian life.
The studio summarizes My Dead Friend Zoe as “a dark comedy drama that follows the journey of Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the (hallucinatory) presence of Zoe (Natalie Morales), her dead best friend from the Army.
Gramps (Ed harris), Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the late Zoe (Natalie Morales, center)
“Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor (Morgan Freeman), the tough love of her mother (Gloria Reuben) and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit's cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. At its core, this is a buddy film about a complicated friendship, a divided family, and the complex ways in which we process grief.”
A semi-autobiographical and powerfully moving story by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, My Dead Friend Zoe is inaccurately described as a “dark comedy” or as a “buddy film”.
More accurately, this film is a powerfully emotional drama that sees Merit’s grief manifest as a hallucination of her dead friend Zoe. In this mental state, she continues her relationship with her friend, talking about her family, the disappointment of Dr. Cole, her VA Counselor, and even, as if she had never died. True, there is light banter between the two characters, but hardly enough to meet the level of a dark comedy.
However, what’s clever is how the imagined presence of Zoe is handled. This isn’t a film about ghostly presences or a supernatural comedy. Zoe and Merit bicker, joke and still maintain their friendship despite Zoe’s status. This is the first of two supportive elements that adds validity to Merit’s journey.
The second is Merit’s relationship with her grandfather, Dale (Ed Harris). A retired army Lieutenant-Colonel who lives on their family lake-house and suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Unable to live by himself, Merit is torn between her own grief and the pain she will cause trying to get him to live in an assisted-living residence.
Of course, unable to process her own grief, her relationships with her mother and her grandfather also suffer as she struggles to find peace with herself.
Family and grief are two very relatable themes. Of course, Merit’s journey to finding peace isn’t a solitary one. Her persistent VA Counselor, Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman), holds out hope that she will be able to make sense of her emotions. But it’s clear that if there are any breakthroughs that have to be made they will be on Merit’s terms.
It's an extremely rare gift to be able to speak to the person you lost. Though Merit is well aware that this is a fantasy, it still allows her to navigate her grief through stages. From casual banter to annoying digs, Merit still has the connection to her former comrade. When she is distracted by Zoe, it allows for whoever is with her at that time to also see that there is something on her mind.
Merit’s relationship with Zoe is also a process that epitomizes her mental struggle for wellness and balance and it’s a privilege for the audience to share that journey with her.
It would be remiss to not mention the incredible cast associated with this project. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris not only add their considerable talent to the film, but they also reinforce that this is a high drama about a topic that is so important to American Veterans. The toll of military service is great and it’s not just good enough to come home physically whole. They also add a great deal of appeal to the audience. Morgan Freeman is the epitome of a sage, wise healer and who wouldn’t want Ed Harris as their grandfather?
Natalie Morales plays the perfect friend. Flawed, earthy and even loyal in death, she’s the friend you wouldn’t want to lose, especially in the way that she dies.
Which is also a very powerful draw to this story. We don’t soon learn how Zoe dies and far be it for me to spoil that, but it’s such an emotional death that Merit’s grief as well as her sense of responsibility become completely relatable.
It’s something that probably a lot of people can relate to and that accounts for its appeal.
This is Sonequa Martin-Green’s best performance. Known for The Walking Dead and lately, Star Trek: Discovery, this is a role that taps into her range of emotionality and roots her solidly in the bedrock of high drama. It’s ironic that a fantasy relationship between her character and her character’s best dead friend should showcase such real emotional turmoil. It is so believably portrayed that you feel like you are part of the conversation. Sonequa Martin Green has never been more real in a role than she is in this film.
(Watch for our forthcoming interview with Sonequa.)
The obvious misleading description of it being a dark comedy aside, this is a powerful film that tackles a wide array of issues that American veterans face in their returns from service. It’s real, it’s emotive and it’s something that doesn’t fit the bill of a “buddy story”, possessing a sense of levity or even a dark comedy.
It’s dark, but it’s also human. It’s important and it’s a film that manages to remind us of the journey that military veterans travel even when they manage to return home.
My Dead Friend Zoe. Written and directed by Kyle Haussman-Stokes. Stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar. In theatres Friday, February 28.