Before the feature film had even begun, the sound of sniffles and nose-blowing filled the Virginia Theatre. Chaz Ebert, Roger Ebert’s wife, explained the first time her late husband’s saw Sabrina Lee and Shasta Grenier’s documentary “Not Yet Begun to Fight” while residing at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Chaz, from behind the podium, smiled radiantly as she explained how the film resonated so strongly with Roger that he organized an “Ebert movie night” for other residents whom he thought it could benefit.

The reasons behind Roger’s reaction to the film become evident almost immediately. The audience is introduced to a group of five young men, all veterans of the war in Afghanistan and all harmed either physically or mentally through their service. In hopes of healing and recovery, they are taken in by Vietnam War veteran Colonel Eric Hastings, a man once hardened by war and now softened by nature and, more specifically, fly-fishing. Hastings, along with several fly-fishing experts, works alongside the young veterans amidst a beautiful Montana backdrop during the six-day program, called “Warriors and Quiet Waters.”

Co-director Sabrina Lee said in a post-screening Q-and-A that part of her motivation in creating the film was to explore the idea that for many service men and women, “coming home is the hardest part.” With this idea at play, both the participants and Hastings all share an often unspoken understanding of the pains of war and the blemishes it leaves on those involved. As Hastings explained, part of the program’s aims is to teach “men who were trained to kill” to take an alive creature into their hands, and then carefully release it back into its environment, while simultaneously showing the injured veterans that life goes on.

Though the film is only about an hour long, the raw truthfulness of the veterans endears the viewer to them instantly. A few speak candidly about their injuries, their traumas and their fears while others simply allow a near wordless observation of the war’s effects on them. Watching the men grow in love with fly-fishing and seeing the smiles upon their faces as they release their captives back into the river is a cause for both tears, laughter and inspiration.

Hastings, in a moment of unadulterated honesty and emotion, looked with tears in his eyes out over the river where his participants were catching and releasing the gorgeous Montana trout and said, “You know, this river … this river healed me.” And in that moment, it is clear that this is not a film about war politics, but a film about humanity. It is kindness and compassion that bring us through times of despair and cruelty and hardship. At the end of the film, I felt both triumphant and disheartened in learning of the programs’ subjects life after fly-fishing. But the overreaching feeling is one of hope. The hope of the veterans was restored through nature’s gentle ways and through the guidance and companionship of one another.

I’d like to think that “Not Yet Begun to Fight” echoed so profoundly with Roger Ebert because he, too, felt like he had a fight to continue. Why did it result in a teary-eyed audience of varying ages, professions and lifestyles and a standing ovation? Simply put, because Roger, in his final choice for his last Ebertfest, left us with the knowledge that hope and compassion will always triumph, and that honest and raw filmmaking can inspire this hope and compassion.

Hannah is a sophomore in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].