2014’s The War Within takes place in two worlds, one on the outside and one in the inside.

The film opens with Michael Sinclair (Brett Vavrel), a cartoonist who is struggling to deal with both the death of his daughter and the subsequent collapse of his marriage.  Though he still has his good memories of when he first met and fell in love with Amy (Rebecca Reid), those are running the risk of fading and disappearing as neither one can forgive themselves for the accident that took away their daughter.  Michael has even found himself questioning his once firm faith in religion.  Amy, meanwhile, was never particularly religious, something that worried her daughter in the days before her death.  When Michael gets a phone call informing him that his syndicated comic strip has been cancelled due to him missing too many deadlines, Michael trashes his studio and wonders why he is being so punished.

The film takes us inside of Michael’s head, where Heart (Brett Vavrel, in a duo role), Will (Gary Vavrel), Conscience (Daron Day), Mind (Terry Vavrel), Emotion (Drew Vavrel), and Memory (Bruce Crum) all battle for control of Michael’s decisions and his future.  At first, it appears that only Emotion wants to reject both Amy and his faith.  But then Heart starts to realize that both Mind and Will are slipping over to Emotion’s side.  Heart and Conscience have to work together to search the realms of Michael’s mind so that they can retrieve the memory orbs that have been stolen by the other traits.  Otherwise, Michael will never find peace and he’ll lose his wife….

Okay, this probably sounds a bit weird and I guess it kind of is.  I mean, on the one hand, you’ve got Michael and Amy trying to come to terms and find some sort of meaning in the worst tragedy that a parent can experience.  There are frequent flashbacks, finally explaining the heartbreaking reason why Michael blames himself for their daughter’s death.  And there’s a moment of incredible coincidence, in which Amy discovers how the accident that took her daughter’s life also effected one of the new students in her class.  I mean, it’s an amazing coincidence but it’s still a rather sweet plot development and it’s well-acted by Rebecca Reid.

While that’s going on, you have a bunch of people wearing vaguely medieval costumes battling in a shadowy realm that is meant to represent Michael’s subconscious.  There’s some crudely effective CGI, in which Emotion attacks the other traits with …. well, emotions.  There’s a lot of talk about memory orbs and hidden realms and it’s all a bit corny but it’s also all so earnest that it’s hard not to get some enjoyment out of it.  I especially liked the fact that Emotion looked and sounded like the type of emo kid that I would have had a crush on back when I was 16 years old.  Watching those scenes made me think about the type of war that’s probably going on in my own mind right now.  Heart says to stay up for a month straight just watching and reviewing movies.  Mind says, “Get some sleep and stay healthy!”  Emotion has yet to chime in.

Anyway, this was one of those film that was so weird that it was pretty much impossible not to enjoy it.  Count that as a victory for Heart.