“Saying ‘welcome home, good job’ — that’s not enough. It doesn’t make all that pain go away,” says one Vietnam veteran interviewed in the intimate new documentary “Souvenirs: Healing After War.” Another veteran of that war, Phong Phan, remarks, “A lot of souvenirs from Vietnam — but some souvenirs are dangerous. Some souvenirs are very heavy.”

The Twin Cities-based director of the film, Mara Pelecis, an installation artist-cum-filmmaker, observes, “From the veterans I’ve talked to, I hear a lot about a lack of understanding, that people just don’t have the patience to really listen about what happened to them during their time in war.” She goes on, “I really wish people had a better sense of empathy for what our veterans are going through, and, on a larger level, a better sense of understanding of the experience of anyone who’s gone through a trauma. It’s not something you just ‘get over.’ The effects can take years to show up. That kind of experience changes a whole life, whole families’ lives.”

Pelecis knows what she’s talking about. Her father, Ivars “Andy” Pelecis, was also a veteran of the conflict in Vietnam. Like many, he didn’t talk much about his wartime experience, she remembers — but that’s not to say their family wasn’t affected by his time over there. Then, after his unexpected suicide in 2002, Pelecis began going through her father’s old photographs from the war and his Bolex film footage, trying to get a sense for what he’d been dealing with since his return home, to piece together, years after the fact, something of what lay behind the lingering, if elusive, impact of his wartime service  in her family’s life.

A diverse array of voices are included in the documentary, across generations and representing service in a variety of our nation’s conflicts. There was nearly a decade of work to get here, and “many versions of scripts and long hours editing footage to find the story,” Pelecis says. The finished film is informed by her conversations throughout the years with hundreds of service people, including members of Rolling Thunder, Inc., all branches of military service personnel, Veterans for Peace, support staff in both government veterans’ affairs organizations and independent nonprofits, like Beyond the Yellow Ribbon or Minnesotans’ Military Appreciation Fund.

The director says she doesn’t intend this to be a polemical picture or to provide any overarching statement. “This isn’t a ‘survey film,’ or an expose like you see on PBS’ ‘Frontline.’ It’s a more contemplative sort of work. I wanted to talk to veterans from all walks of life, to bridge some of those gaps in communities and viewpoints about the war — whether pro-military or staunchly anti-war. I don’t want this to be a political statement. I really just want to get at the experiences of real people and how this experience affects them over their whole lives. ”

“My wish for veterans is greater understanding over the years,” she says, “beyond just the days and months after their immediate return from war. In my father’s life, he had a lot of difficulty coping years later, for example, when he was laid off from his job in 1989. And there was a real lack of understanding from people about why it was harder for him to adapt.”

She says, “The fact is, people handle trauma differently. For some, it may take 10 years or more before the most serious problems emerge. The feelings from their experiences during the war build up over time, and alcoholism, aggression, late onset PTSD — these are all often manifestations of unresolved issues from that wartime experience, showing up years afterward, often coming out sideways. This is something that takes a lifetime to cope with, and we need support services for our veterans and understanding from the community that respects that.”

In honor of Veterans Day, there will be grassroots screenings of “Souvenirs: Healing After War” all over the country. In the Twin Cities, IFP Minnesota Center for Media Arts will show the film from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 2446 University Ave. West, Suite 100 in St. Paul. Visit the film’s website for information on this and future showings in the U.S.: http://www.souvenirsdocumentary.com/.