In the last decade, tens of thousands of wounded soldiers have returned home from combat. For them, one battle is over, and another is just beginning.

This is the sentiment behind the documentary that will close Ebertfest on Sunday. “Not Yet Begun to Fight” follows wounded veterans on their journey to emotional and psychological recovery as they spend a week fly-fishing in Montana.

Sabrina Lee, producer and co-director of the film, said when she and her co-director, Shasta Grenier, decided to make a film about veterans’ re-entry into civilian life, they thought fly-fishing was an appropriate way of approaching the subject.

The metaphor of fly-fishing is part of what makes the film work on more than one level, Lee said. There is a restorative element in taking a live creature in your hands and returning it safely to its natural environment, she said, especially for veterans who were previously trained to kill. 

Marine Col. Eric Hastings flies wounded veterans from military hospitals to Montana each year as part of his organization Warriors and Quiet Waters.

“I came back from combat and found I needed relief,” Hastings said in the film. He goes on to say that the more he fly-fished, the more it became a physical and mental need — he had to do it, or he “was gonna kill somebody.”

Steve Platcow, executive producer of the film, said that in teaching men to fly-fish, Hastings helps them learn tactics to medicate post traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

“There is forgiveness for what involvement (soldiers) had in killing every time they catch and release a fish,” he said.

Platcow’s personal motivation for being involved in the project came in part from his grandfather, a wounded World War I veteran who suffered from undiagnosed PTSD symptoms.

“The world needs to see this and do everything we can to help reintegrate these guys into our society, so they can be helpful and useful to themselves and others and not of danger to themselves and others,” Platcow said of the film.

Erik Goodge, one veteran featured in the film, wears an eye patch to cover an injury sustained by being hit by an improvised explosive device while overseas.

During one scene in the film, Goodge said he wanted to return to Afghanistan, where “things sometimes make more sense in combat than they do in the real world.” However, since the shooting of the film in 2010, he said he no longer feels that way.

“It’s not been a lot of time, but it’s certainly been enough time to sit back and think,” Goodge said.

It takes time to come off the adrenaline rush of being in combat and return to civilized society, he said, but now that he has, he never wants to go back to Afghanistan or see anyone else go back either.

For Goodge, fly-fishing is therapeutic because of its slow, fluid repetition and the fact that it keeps him focused on something other than his injuries. He continues to fish as often as he can.

As for the film, Goodge said one of the special things about it is that the viewer can decide what message to take away.

Lee said the film has a light editorial and directorial touch for this reason — it does not tell people how to feel about the subject.

Lee and Platcow both feel honored to be included in Ebertfest this weekend.

“I recently read (Roger Ebert’s) memoir ‘Life Itself,’ and one of the simple but lovely points he makes is that he tends to like films that are about good people,” Lee said.

Despite larger themes of the impact of war and loss of identity, Lee said “Not Yet Begun to Fight” is essentially about good people who are on their way to getting better. Although she said she would just be speculating, perhaps this is why Ebert chose it as one of 12 overlooked films of the year shown at the festival.

“I’ve been brought to tears discussing it multiple times,” Platcow said. “I’m hopeful that all the time and love that has gone into this will help us achieve an audience large enough to really have a lasting effect on how, as a society, we can come together and help each other be the best that we can be.”

In “Life Itself,” Ebert wrote, “I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do … That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances.” 

“Not Yet Begun to Fight” will screen at the Virginia Theatre on Sunday at Noon. Lee, Grenier and subjects Goodge and Elliott Miller will participate in a discussion immediately following the film.

Jordan can be reached at [email protected].