1. Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) - The Master (2012)
Like Travis Bickle, PTSD could turn you into an insomnia-ravaged, paranoid angel of death. If youre lucky. If you get the sharper end of the stick, you might come out of National Service with alcoholism, sex addiction, crying spells, violent behaviour, erratic mood swings, hallucinations and a predilection for religious cults that have no basis in fact. In The Masters pre-war flashbacks, we see soon-to-be-WWII vet Freddie Quell sober, somewhat sad but altogether a normal, unremarkable person. Post-war, languishing in a military hospital before he drifts aimlessly across America, hes a sex-mad, boozing animal bordering on missing link, hungrily downing turpentine and masturbating like a chimp in open daylight. If there was ever a warning sign against obligatory military service for all especially for those already of a melancholy disposition Quell is it. Hes a man wrecked by combat, mentally disfigured then released back into the wild as one of the most damaged souls ever committed to celluloid. Hes the ultimate example of post-war trauma.