Every year the German parliament sends army soldiers on missions to areas of conflict. From every mission soldiers return home wounded. Those wounds are not necessarily observable. Often, they only become apparent years after the mission as a disorder of their mental health. One of those disorders is the “Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder” (PTSD). It reveals a profound psychological trauma.

The psychosocial therapies offered by the army medical centers cannot provide help for everyone. Where the conventional medicine is limited, Claudia Swiercek fills the gap with her horses. During years of work she has developed a therapeutic method that uses the horses’ exceptional abilities.

The documentary SILENT COMRADE accompanies three traumatized soldiers that are trying to find a way back to life with the help of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. It attends the therapy sessions as a silent observer and allows access to the special therapy approach of the German therapist Claudia Swierczek.

ORIGINAL TITLE: Stiller Kamerad
YEAR: 2017
GENRE: Documentary
DURATION: 88 min.
 ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: German
COUNTRY: Germany
DIRECTOR: Leonhard Hollmann
WRITER: Leonhard Hollmann
PRODUCTION: Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF