Man Down

Gabriel Drummer lives with wife Natalie and son Johnathan at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. When Johnathan is bullied at school after Natalie tells him I love you in front of classmates, Gabriel invents a secret code man down to say I love you without exposing feelings publicly. This code foreshadows his attempt to protect what he loves during the forthcoming war.

Gabriel leaves for a tour in Afghanistan; Devin, his best friend, stays behind briefly to recuperate from a broken arm. They prepare for dangerous operations as battle buddies, forming a tight bond. The mission sets the stage for the trauma to come.

In Afghanistan, Gabriel and Devin become battle buddies, taking enemy fire and clearing rooms together. Their friendship deepens as they rely on each other under fire. The squad is ambushed, intensifying the trauma they will carry.

Devin is fatally shot during the ambush, apologizing to Gabriel as he dies. Gabriel discovers a note inside Devin's helmet with a password to a video chat site, which leads him to realize Natalie cheated on him. The moment compounds his sense of betrayal and grief.

Back in Afghanistan, Gabriel begins compulsory counseling with Captain Peyton, who worries about his deteriorating mental state. Gabriel insists that he is fine and walks out, resisting the help offered. The seeds of his fractured psyche are sown here.

Gabriel returns to a ruined city in the United States and begins searching for Natalie and Johnathan. He is accompanied by the ghostly presence of Devin, signaling his break from reality. The world he returns to feels unrecognizable and unsafe.

While scavenging the ruins, Gabriel meets Charles, a civilian trying to survive. They confront one another over an envelope from a letter Gabriel wrote to Johnathan; in the confusion, Devin accidentally shoots Charles. The moment highlights the unreliability of perception in his mind.

Gabriel's trauma deepens as he drifts between reality and hallucination, haunted by Devin's ghostly presence. He and Johnathan move through the wreckage, uncertain who to trust. The haunting presence marks a collapse of stable reality.

Gabriel ends up living on the streets, traumatizing his family and straining his relationship with Natalie and Johnathan. He carries the war into civilian life, watching the world through a fractured lens. Natalie remains uncertain about his state of mind.

In a final breakdown, Gabriel returns to the ruins of their home, brandishing a gun and rescuing Johnathan from the wreckage. He shoots the family dog and hides with Johnathan on the main floor of the ruined house, as the situation spirals toward a police confrontation.

Gabriel strangles a policeman to death and radios Devin for backup, further muddling fact and fantasy. Natalie comes down the stairs, and Gabriel mistakes her for the Afghan woman who shot Devin, a momentary rupture of reality.

Gabriel regains a moment of clarity and apologizes to Natalie and Johnathan for his confusion before a police sniper wounds him. Johnathan hugs him as he is restrained, providing a brief human counterpoint to the chaos. The screen fades to black after the tragedy.