This New War Movie Is Flawless From Beginning to End (& It Sidesteps Some Controversial Genre Tropes) (2025)

War veterans' stories, from deployment to a combat zone to returning home to pick up where life left off, naturally make for great drama. Films with big, cinematic battle sequences or scenes of despair or danger at home are the stuff of award nominations. Even those "based on a true story" rarely reflect the lived reality of the more than 16 million Americans who served. The new film My Dead Friend Zoe is an exception, capturing an authentic and familiar experience in a moving, quiet drama.

After five seasons on Star Trek: Discovery, Sonequa Martin-Green traded her Starfleet uniform for an Army Combat Uniform. She plays Merrit, a light-wheel mechanic who deployed to Afghanistan with Natalie Morales's Zoe, her best friend in the unit. Screen legends Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris join them in the cast as Dr. Cole, Merrit's therapist, and Dale, her grandfather. Much of the film takes place after the war as Merrit struggles to meet the daily challenges of civilian life or her court-ordered group therapy. Flashbacks unfold throughout the film focused on Merrit and Zoe in theater. Zoe does appear back in the States, too. Yet, as the title suggests, she's dead. While I won't spoil the dramatic surprises, but as an Iraq veteran myself, I knew Zoe's fate from the first scene. The film brilliantly leads its civilian audiences to one assumption. Yet, the seemingly innocuous dialogue in their first scene will signal this to veterans louder than an "Alarm Red" on a Forward Operating Base.

My Dead Friend Zoe Perfectly Captures a War Between Grief and Duty

A Veteran's Fight Doesn't End When They Come Home From War

Rather than typical "intense" war movies, My Dead Friend Zoe doesn't burden the audience with the empty spectacle of combat. The film's intensity and drama are firmly rooted in the characters and their experiences. When Dr. Cole presses Merrit to speak in therapy, it's more nerve-wracking than any "calm before the storm" moment. Green's character is instantly recognizable to veterans. All of us know someone who is reserved and aloof as a way to hide persistent fear and suffering. She's haunted, quite literally, since her vision of Zoe follows her almost everywhere.

Frankly, it is offensive how most films or shows depict mental injury or trauma. A veteran character is either broken to the point of incapacitation or, more commonly, violent and dangerous. (This is despite the fact such veterans are far more likely to harm themselves.) There are rare exceptions, often found in sci-fi or fantasy stories. For example, Green's former franchise, Star Trek, avoids harmful veteran tropes. Merrit's fight in My Dead Friend Zoe is against herself, specifically accepting help. Pushing her physical limits helps her escape her grief, if only briefly.

It's after such a run that Merrit finally confronts that which holds her back. Similarly, Morales as Zoe is another instantly recognizable character. Every unit had a "fun" soldier who blasted music or broke out smuggled-in booze. Zoe is aloof and irreverent, so her plan to reenlist seems out of character. Merrit's Zoe continues as supportive comic relief, reminiscent of films like JoJo Rabbit. Audiences may think the film flubs the character because the humor becomes grating and off-putting. It's not a mistake. Not only is her "ghost" not a gift, it's not really Zoe.

Beyond the Veteran Experience, the Film Tells a Gripping Story About Family

Merrit Feels She Failed Zoe, and She's Desperate Not to Fail Her Grandpa

While Merrit's struggles drive the film, she's not the only troubled veteran in My Dead Friend Zoe. Her grandfather, Dale, can't be on his own anymore due to the worsening effects of cognitive impairment. Dale also resents Merrit's self-imposed estrangement from him. She didn't even come for her grandmother's final days or funeral. With Zoe dominating her life, Merrit had no room for more grief. Dale points out vets often turn to each other for support. Yet he also dismisses the mental injuries that trauma can inflict.

As is typical with Dale's condition, he endures moments of physical weakness or emotional outbursts. There are also more lucid moments where he and Merrit rekindle their connection. Being back out in the world has other unexpected benefits. Merrit also meets. Alex, played by Ghosts' Utkarsh Ambudkar. He's a well-intentioned civilian who can't help but say the wrong things, another archetype veterans can recognize. Merrit wrestles with her duty to Dale, her desire to spend time with Alex and the lingering presence of the friend she feels she failed.

Merrit's relationships with Dale and Alex are another measure of authenticity in My Dead Friend Zoe almost never seen in film. A common offensive trope in films of veterans with PTSD paints them as weird recluses who withdraw from their families. Mental injury creates emotional distance with loved ones, sure. But vets don't dig foxholes in their yard or hide in the woods and play Army. Rather, the feeling of isolation happens while being physically present, which compounds feelings of guilt and failure.

Army Veteran and Director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes Avoids Cinematic Inauthenticity

My Dead Friend Zoe Is Such a Near-Perfect Debut; It's Almost Unfair

The main reason My Dead Friend Zoe is so authentic is because of its director, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, who co-wrote the screenplay with A.J. Bermudez from a story he conceived with Cheris Chen. Kyle served as a U.S. Army paratrooper, and the film was inspired by some he served with. In the interest of full disclosure, I met Kyle in 2009 at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America annual gala and the Veterans Day parade in NYC, where we were both volunteers. Still, even if I hadn't seen it firsthand, My Dead Friend Zoe showcases his care and concern for the issues facing our siblings-in-arms.

I will not spoil the specific details of the film, especially what happened to Zoe. Yet, perhaps just by reading this review, fellow veterans of our generation will likely guess correctly. So many of the films and shows that deign to tell our stories get so much of it wrong. They want big explosions, while the characters are peppered with incoming small-arms fires behind cover. Some movies split the difference. Jarhead highlighted that deployment is mostly boring, but even this film had to pay its combat tax for the audience. My Dead Friend Zoe does no such thing.

In fact, the scenes set during Merit's and Zoe's deployment aren't the focus of the film. Rather, Stokes and company capture Merit's difficult transition back into civilian life. She's adrift, spiraling sometimes. Her only solace is going for a run, a physical connection to her life in the Army. Hausmann-Stokes's directorial debut is, frankly, perfect. So much so, other storytellers and filmmakers might throw up their hands in surrender. The story is elevated by the skilled cast in the roles, and the human drama is more explosive than any combat scene.

My Dead Friend Zoe Is a Powerful Study of the Unbearable Weight Absence Causes

Merrit Isn't 'Missing' Something in Her Life; She's Carrying Far Too Much With Her Everyday

Many films about grief focus on its connection to love or the sense of absence people feel in its wake. My Dead Friend Zoe subverts that idea, showing that Merit is weighed down by the apparition of Zoe that follows her. It's a weight around her neck, slowing her forward progress through life. Freeman's Dr. Cole tries to show her how to remove it or, at least, help her carry it. The group therapy scenes feature actors who are also real-life veterans, imbuing more authenticity into these moments.

One reason I loathe those feel-good videos of soldiers returning home to reunite with family is that they are lies. It suggests that getting out of the warzone, back to the people we love, is all it takes. For many veterans, that's when the real struggle begins. Merit's relationships with her family and lack of relationships with anyone else is a rare dramatization of this reality. The hardest battle many veterans face isn't while serving. It's in trying to figure out what to do next. Some of us, like myself, are incredibly lucky. We find our communities, rewarding jobs, and fill our lives with joy and love. My Dead Friend Zoe finally showcases an authentic depiction of those who aren't so fortunate. Again, without spoilers, I will say that the film delivers a happy, uplifting ending. To that end, some critical viewers may find this resolution too…neat.

While I am not privy to the director's and writers' thinking, I would never fault My Dead Friend Zoe for this. The film simply takes advantage of the potential of fiction to imagine things will get better. Reality is filled with far too many stories like this that don't have a happy ending, so the conclusion is as much a gift as what precedes it. My Dead Friend Zoe will raise awareness among civilians about the realities of the veteran experience. But, if we're all really lucky, its representational qualities, bolstered by Green's performance, will actually save some lives.

My Dead Friend Zoe is closing out a limited run in theaters and should be released for home viewing soon.

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My Dead Friend Zoe

Comedy

Drama

War

10

10

Release Date

March 9, 2024

Runtime

98 Minutes

Director

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes

Writers

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, A.J. Bermudez, Cherish Chen

Producers

Terri Feldman Lubaroff, Travis Kelce, Richard Silverman

Cast

See All

• 

  Sonequa Martin-Green

  Zoe

• 

  Natalie Morales

  Merit

Engaged in a mysterious relationship with her dead best friend from the Army, a female Afghanistan veteran comes head to head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family's ancestral lake house

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Pros & Cons

• A meticulously authentic dramatization of veteran experiences with a deeply important message.
• Stellar performances from a remarkable cast blending humor, heavy emotion, and triumph.
• Razor-sharp dialogue and intimate direction connects viewers to the characters' stories.

• Sets a high bar that other films telling veteran stories will not likely meet.