Outpost

Trying to deal with the recurring nightmares and flashbacks, to a violent relationship, Kate (Beth Dover) is put forward by her friend for a voluntary post as a fire warden on a mountain in Idaho. The hope is that the tranquillity of the post in the middle of beautiful landscapes will help with her deal with her PTSD.

Based in a watchtower she’ll be in almost total isolated for three months. Virtually her only contact are the daily reports to base and head warden Earl (Ato Essandoh), himself on the edge having been responsible for a disastrous fire several years before.

Buying her supplies in the local store Kate is subjected to the male gaze and the casual sexism that passes for conversation with the local men. At the tower Kate settles into the routine even defying directions to go and put out a fire instead of reporting it. She’s told off by Earl but she was right.

The only other person near the watchtower is long-time resident and semi-recluse Reggie (Dylan Baker). Initially he’s reluctant to get too close though they form a wary acquaintance. Another figure who turns up to use the ranger outhouse is trekker Bertha (Becky Ann Barker) with whom Kate begins to develop a deeper relationship.

From debut feature film director and writer Joe Lo Truglio (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Outpost is an un-compromising film that doesn’t skirt over the terrible effects of PTSD caused by a violent relationship.

Kate’s physical trauma and mental fragility are laid bare as the supposed rehabilitation up the mountain reignites past memories. Her mind begins falls in on itself creating a turmoil of dread thoughts and building paranoid perceptions of those around her.

Lo Truglio handles this very complex subject with a great deal of care eliciting a sublime performance from Dover keeping to the viewer’s sympathies throughout. They are never in doubt even when the violence is upped and it moves into nasty rural horror territory.