1091 Pictures has released the trailer for The Drummer starring Danny Glover, which follows active and former members of the U.S. military and their war-related traumas. The drama film is set to premiere digitally on Veterans’ Day.
The trailer promises a heavy story, with soldiers suffering from PTSD, struggling with their own identity and trying to find ways not to go back and witness the horrors of war once again. Glover plays a lawyer who helps them have a voice and question the judicial system that often doesn’t factor in the mental state of soldiers during and after service. "The Drummer," from the title, refers to the coffee shop where veterans and soldiers are welcome to open up about their experiences.
When talking about how he related to the story, Glover revealed the script spoke to him personally. He stated:
“My brother was a Vietnam vet, given to the recent announcement that there are more veterans suicide than soldiers killed in Iraq makes the film The Drummer more timely than ever.”
The Drummer is directed by Eric Werthman, who had been away from the director’s chair ever since his 2004 film debut, Going Under. Like his first movie, he co-wrote the scipt of The Drummer with Jessica Gohlke, who’d also been on a feature film hiatus for the past 17 years.
Aside from Glover, Prema Cruz, Sam Underwood, Daniel K. Isaac, Camilla Perez, Frankie J. Alvarez, Jennifer Mudge, and Lillias White are also featured in The Drummer. It will be available to purchase or rent starting on November 9, timed to honor Veterans' Day. You can check out the trailer and poster below:
Here’s the official synopsis for the movie:
Three interwoven stories reveal the traumatic effects of war on the psyches of veterans from different generations in THE DRUMMER, which stars Danny Glover as Mark Walker, a Vietnam war veteran who has become a lawyer and political advocate for soldiers who have suffered mental health issues through their tenure with the Army. Walker works at The Drummer, a small, “anti-war” coffee shop, where the soldiers he meets open up the issue of the mental struggles and physical toll that war takes on veterans.
