''The Dry Land'', or ''American Tragic'', is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

, directed and written by Ryan Piers Williams. It opened worldwide on July 30, 2010.

Plot

James returns from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

to face a new battle readjusting to small-town life in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. His wife, his mother, and his friend provide support, but they cannot fully understand the pain and suffering he feels since his tour of duty ended. Lonely, James reconnects with an army buddy, Raymond, who provides him with compassion and friendship during his battle to process his experiences in Iraq. But their reunion also exposes the different ways that war affects people, at least on the surface.

Cast

America Ferrera America Georgina Ferrera (; born April 18, 1984) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, Ferrera developed an interest in acting at a young age, performing in several stage productions at her school. She made her featu ...

as Sarah *

Jason Ritter Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Kevin Girardi in the television series ''Joan of Arcadia'', Ethan Haas in '' The Class'', Sean Walker in the NBC series '' The Event'', ...

as Michael *

Ethan Suplee Ethan Suplee (; born May 25, 1976) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' American History X'', '' Remember the Titans'', ''John Q'', '' The Wolf of Wall Street'', ''Without a Paddle'', and sever ...

as Jack * Wilmer Valderrama as Raymond Gonzales *

Melissa Leo Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Critics' Choice A ...

as Martha * June Diane Raphael as Susie * Evan Jones as Joe Davis *

Ana Claudia Talancón Ana Claudia Talancón (born Ana Claudia Talancón Ortiz Tirado; 1 May 1980), is a Mexican actress, TV host, and philanthropist. She first started acting in her home town, Cancún, Quintana Roo. Early life and career Talancón first started st ...

as Adriana *

Sasha Spielberg Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990), also known by her stage name Buzzy Lee, is an American actress and musician. Life and career Spielberg was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the daughter of film director Steven Spi ...

as Sally * Ryan O'Nan as James *

Barry Shabaka Henley Barry Shabaka Henley (born Barry Joseph Henley; September 15, 1954) is an American character actor. Henley has appeared as a regular in a number of television series, has numerous film credits, and is a fixture in films by director Michael Mann, ...

as Colonel Stephen Evans * Benito Martinez as David Valdez * Diego Klattenhoff as Henry *

Misty Upham Misty Anne Upham (July 6, 1982 – October 5, 2014) was a Blackfeet actress. She attracted critical acclaim for her performance in the 2008 film ''Frozen River'', for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Fem ...

as Gloria *

Jenny Gabrielle Jenny Gabrielle is an American actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 2001. Selected filmography References External links * Living people American film actresses Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century A ...

as Tina *

Jeremiah Bitsui Jeremiah Bitsui (born ) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Victor in the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Better Call Saul''. Early and personal life Bitsui was born in Chinle, Arizona. He is of Navajo and Omaha descent, a ...

as Luis

Reception

The film received generally mixed to positive reviews. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reports that 64% of 25 critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.52/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 47 based on 10 reviews signifying "mixed or average reviews". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' gave the film a "B" grade and praised Ryan O'Nan's "quietly riveting performance as an Iraq-war veteran who comes undone after he returns home to dusty Texas (the filmmaker's home turf)". The film received Imagen Awards nominations for best feature film and for America Ferrera as best actress."Nominees for 25th Annual Imagen Awards Announced"
Imagen Awards official website, July 2010.

References

External links

Official website
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dry Land 2010 films 2010 drama films American drama films Films about veterans 2010s English-language films 2010s American films