“Absolutely Riveting.”
–Esquire Classic

“In-depth look at a complicated man.”
-The Daily Beast

“An honest and raw portrayal…”
-Town and Country

Tim O’Brien has been called “the best American writer of his generation,” and America’s “poet laureate of war.” A Vietnam veteran, and National Book Award-winner, O’Brien is one of the great voices in modern American literature. The Library of Congress recently named his groundbreaking novel about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, one of the 65 most influential books in US history. 

But O’Brien hasn’t put pen to paper in nearly two decades. He swore off making sentences when, at a late age, he had his first of two children. Plus, the nation was waging new wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that he couldn’t wrap his head around – wars that both reconfirmed and upended the notions of war, soldiers, and society that animated his books. Now, Tim O’Brien is trying to write again. He thinks the country is past due for a conversation about war’s impact. He thinks we’re running out of time. And, at age 70, that he is too.

What makes wars worth fighting? How do we write about war? What are the obligations of citizens with respect to war?  What are the after-effects of war on individuals and families? The War and Peace of Tim O’Brien follows O’Brien on the journey of his last book, as he reveals the everyday ties between duty, art, family, and the trauma of war.

In 2015, I directed a film for PBS called The Draft, about the history of military conscription in the United States. Making that film, I realized how little attention Americans paid to war. I also realized how little I had thought about war. Like many Americans I’d been living in a social and political bubble, numb to the many years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I interviewed over 50 individuals for The Draft, from soldiers, to acclaimed historians and activists. But it was the interview with Tim O’Brien that made me feel as if the ground had shifted beneath my feet. About halfway through our talk, I figured out what millions of Americans already knew from reading his books and attending his public talks for decades – that Tim O’Brien is the guide to answering our deepest and most persistent questions about the meaning of war.

A few weeks after interviewing Tim, I presented him with the idea of the documentary. He was a bit reluctant, but agreed to go forward on a “we’ll see what happens” basis. Then, he invited me into his home and personal life, and the more I hung around with the private O’Brien, the more I understood Tim O’Brien is much more than our moral gyroscope on war. Witnessing an artist and father at home, I saw that he is a dogged truth teller, an inveterate scab picker, an eloquent confessor. I saw how his rigorous soul searching prodded me to examine my own self. And I saw how O’Brien could shed light on the wars we all fight.

O’Brien has said: “You don't have to be in Nam to be in Nam,” and through O’Brien’s personal struggles, I wanted to make a film that explores the many ways we wage war – around the world, at home, and in our own minds. I wanted to share what O’Brien was teaching me –that our struggles are worth paying attention to. That we should give a damn. That to live is to care about your struggles and that the struggle never ends. 

-Aaron Matthews