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LONGVIEW NATIVE
STARS IN FAITH-BASED
‘WE ARE STRONGER’
SUBMITTED PHOTO/COAST WEEKEND
Actress Angela Sweet (center, seated in vehicle) recently made
her big-screen debut in ‘Stronger,’ a feature film depicting the
struggle of a soldier and his family dealing with post-traumatic
stress disorder.
SUBMITTED PHOTO/COAST WEEKEND
The theater was packed for the premiere of ‘Stronger,’ starring Angela Sweet.
Angela Sweet discusses feature film about PTSD and the military
By MARILYN GILBAUGH
AND KATHERINE LACAZE
FOR COAST WEEKEND
s the nation pauses
on Memorial Day to
honor military per-
sonnel who died in
service, the somber
holiday presents an opportu-
nity to reflect on hardships
disproportionately affecting
members of the armed forces.
Angela Myers Sweet
— the daughter of Kathy
Williams, of Ocean Park,
Washington — is bringing
attention to one such issue,
post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), through her work
in “We Are Stronger,” a faith-
based feature film set for an
initial five-city distribution
but can be viewed in Oregon
and Washington later this
year.
Produced by Reflective
Life Ministries in partner-
ship with the Mighty Oaks
Foundation and other orga-
nizations, the movie follows
Master Sgt. Victor Raphael,
who is nearing the end of
his military career when he
is injured by an explosion in
Afghanistan, according to the
official website.
At home in Texas, Victor
suffers the pain of physical
rehabilitation, the stress of
stabilizing a rocky marriage,
and the tension of reentering
the civilian world. Though
he copes, at first, with his
post-traumatic stress through
isolation, he eventually finds
hope and healing through
spiritual faith and a commu-
nity of people who have also
survived trauma.
Sweet, 39, who plays Vic-
tor’s wife Michelle Raphael,
has been acting for decades.
At age 11, she played Lucy
in a stage adaptation of
“The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe” in Longview,
Washington, her hometown.
She continued honing her
skills through acting classes
in Vancouver, Washington,
and then in California, where
she worked as a model and
film extra.
In 2012, she moved with
her husband, Shawn, from
North Carolina to Texas, and
eventually got involved in
“We Are Stronger,” which
started filming about two
years ago.
Production notes
The entire production, a
nonprofit project, has been
supported by the devotion
of its volunteer actors and
producers, Sweet said.
The team had assistance
from some unique sources.
Various entities, including
the Spirit of Texas Bank,
sponsored the movie. The
mayor of Huntsville, Texas,
volunteered their community
Fourth of July parade as the
backdrop for the movie’s
final scene. And a woman in
Montgomery, Texas, allowed
the filmmakers to use her
home as a set.
In the end, the cost of pro-
duction was about $175,000,
well below the estimated
$250,000 budget, Sweet said.
The producers changed
SUBMITTED PHOTO/COAST WEEKEND
Actress Angela Sweet, third from left, poses for a photo with
members of her family at the premiere of the film ‘Stronger,’
co-starring Sweet.
the title from “Stronger”
to “We Are Stronger” to
distinguish the film from
the David Gordon Green’s
“Stronger,” a film about a
Boston Marathon bombing
victim that will be released in
September.
The switch worked out
well. “That’s our theme
anyway,” Sweet said, adding
“We Are Stronger Together”
was always the film’s tagline.
“We Are Stronger” is
intended to “raise awareness
and provide empowerment,”
Sweet said. Profits from
the film will go to Stronger
Alliance organizations that
serve veterans, first respond-
ers, burn victims and other
people suffering from PTSD.
Suffering in silence
Events experienced by
military personnel that can
W
Cann
2017
finis
lead to post-traumatic stress displ
disorder include combat,
exposure to “horrible and to w
over
life-threatening experi-
ences” and military sexual in a
trauma, which can happen libra
to individuals of any gender T
and in times of peace, train- Oper
ing or war, according to the die A
National Center for PTSD.
Williams and Sweet are
passionate about help-
ing veterans receive the
physical and mental care
they require upon returning
to civilian life. Williams
suggested the establishment tion
of a program they could
Mak
automatically enter upon shop
leaving the military to start Arts
mentally deconstructing the week
trauma they have experi-
enced.
T
Sweet has given several held
presentations through var- day
ious organizations. PTSD, Hall
she said, is often described
as a silent volcano that can
manifest through violent
behavior, isolation, diffi-
culty sleeping and other
symptoms.
Rather than letting
people suffer in silence, it
is important to help them
identify their symptoms
early and connect them with
resources “before that vol-
cano explodes,” she said.
Sweet believes that
changing the label would
benefit people on the road
to recovery.
“There’s a little bit of
stigma happening with
post-traumatic stress
disorder,” she said. “When
you take a leader and slap a
label of ‘disorder’ on them,
it can be equally traumatiz-
ing.”
Other descriptors, such
as post-traumatic stress or
post-traumatic injury, are
beginning to surface in
discussions about optimal
treatments, Sweet said.
For more information
about “We Are Stronger,”
visit StrongerMovie.com.
S