In  Sheepdog, Calvin (Steven Grayhm), a U.S. army veteran sees a state-mandated VA therapist, Dr. Knox (Virginia Madsen) after a violent outburst. He also reunites with his former father-in-law, Whitney (Vondie Curtis-Hall), a Vietnam war veteran who has just been released from prison.  Writer/director Steven Graham has made a heartfelt and wise emotional journey that's occasionally contrived, schmaltzy and on-the-nose. It also has a somewhat slow-burning pace which takes a while to get used to, admittedly. Those are minor and forgivable flaws, though, because, at its core, the film remains an engrossing character study of a man who's struggling to deal with his emotional wounds from his traumatic past. His emotional battles are much more challenging than the physical battles that he went through in the war. Dr. Knox helps Calvin to use introspection, a very important tool, to confront his problems and to help him to heal. She's a kind soul much like Whitney who's going through emotional battles as well.

      Kudos to writer/director Steven Graham for seeing and treating all of the characters as complex, fully-fleshed human beings, warts-and-all. The audience never feels the need to judge Calvin for his flaws, but rather to merely experience him, to empathize with him and to want him to find true happiness while, hopefully, embracing the wisdom behind the poem by Pablo Neruda, "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming." Sheepdog would be a great double feature with Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washinton's directorial debut. At a lengthy running time of 2 hours and 2 minutes, Sheepdog opens in select theaters nationwide.