by Michelle Mullen
Set to premiere later this year, “The Veteran,” by Bronx-born filmmaker Wilfred La Salle, offers a stark look at homelessness, opioid addiction and the failures facing veterans returning home from war. Shot across New York City, the film is grounded in familiar neighborhoods and public spaces, including scenes captured throughout Kingsbridge.
The project continues a pattern that has defined La Salle’s work since he founded La Salle Productions in 2019. He crafts one film each year rooted in a social crisis he believes deserves renewed attention, ranging from gun violence to mental health and drug use.
“All these films that I make [are on a] $0 budget, I don’t have any investors, any sponsors, nothing,” La Salle said. “It’s just me, an ordinary man, trying to do extraordinary things. I say that many times, but that’s the honest truth.”
His most recent film, “The Security Guard,” was released last year and explored mass shootings in America. While “The Veteran” marks a continuation of his independent approach, it grew out of what La Salle described as a deeper sense of responsibility.
“They serve the country and then they’re coming home to get another war,” he said. “I always say that a soldier without stability becomes another statistic.”
At the center of the film is Jose Torres, a fictional U.S. Marine whose life fractures after he is injured during deployment to Iraq in the years following Sept. 11. Prescribed opioids through the military and later the Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, Torres develops an addiction that follows him home. Though honorably discharged, he finds himself unable to secure the benefits he needs.
When his wife and young son are killed in a car accident, grief and heavy drug use intertwine to accelerate his descent into instability and homelessness. His downward spiral unfolds on park benches, subway platforms and street corners.
“It shows the progression — addiction, homelessness, the VA denying him, telling him to just take more opioids,” La Salle said. “He’s fighting for everything. But it turns into kind of a redemption arc.”
That shift begins when Torres crosses paths with Maxwell Cade, a wealthy executive whose own life has been shaped by loss. Cade’s brother was killed during military service, and his decision to help Torres introduces a tentative path forward. The relationship does not offer easy answers, but instead underscores the film’s focus on dignity, accountability and the uneven process of rebuilding.
Beyond the character’s individual journey, “The Veteran” widens its focus to examine the systems that allow such stories to repeat themselves, centering on the persistent link between housing instability and addiction.
Torres is portrayed by actor Valentin Perez, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, lending real life experience to the performance. Though the character is a Marine, La Salle said the story is meant to represent veterans across all branches, bound by shared struggles rather than rank or uniform.
Yet, as with all his films, La Salle was careful not to frame the work as a political statement. Instead, he attempts to foster empathy across divisions.
“The world is already divided,” he said. “I want to bring people together.”
His projects have drawn increasing national attention, particularly “The Security Guard,” which led to appearances and coverage on NBC and ABC, as well as a distribution partnership with Fox Soul. That visibility has brought his work beyond local audiences, but the recognition has not changed his definition of success.
“People say, ‘You made it,’” La Salle said. “But made it to what? Fame? That’s not it for me. It’s leaving people better than you found them,” he said. “If my films do that — even a little — then I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.”