THE TILLMAN STORY
Directed by Amir Bar-Lev
Produced by Amir Bar-Lev
Written by Bar-Lev, Joe Bini & Mark Monroe
Released by Weinstein Company
USA. 94 min. Rated R
Narrated by Josh Brolin
 

Once upon a time, Corporal Pat Tillman was robbed of his public image. At 5’11”, he made for an unlikely football star, but nonetheless he rose to the top, signing a multi-million dollar deal with the National Football League. Shortly after 9/11, anger within Pat compelled him to turn down another lucrative contract extension and enlist in the army. An equally angst-ridden American public lauded the decision and proclaimed him a hero. The media attention over his decision helped sell the war—if this native son could sacrifice so much for the cause, it had to be a just one.

In 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, Cpl. Tillman, by then an Army Ranger, was deployed along with his brother Kevin. According to their family, Pat made his views plain. He didn’t believe in what he saw was an illegal invasion, and felt the U.S. had made a mistake. He fought, nonetheless, and was even made a part of a staged videotaped rescue mission used as media fodder for a public afraid to come to grips with the realities of the ongoing conflict. “He was the most famous enlisted man in the military,” says Stan Goff, a writer, activist, and former military man himself, whose interview adds much insight and depth to Amir Bar-Lev’s illuminating documentary.

Tillman’s was a mantle formerly held by the likes of Elvis Presley, whose famous line, “The army can do anything it wants with me,” didn’t quite apply this time around. His disillusionment grew, but was only expressed in private correspondence with his family. When his unit was later deployed in Afghanistan, he was tragically killed by gunfire while traversing a mountain pass. The real dirt in The Tillman Story comes during interviews with soldiers from this unit. Sergeant Bryan O’Neal describes lying next to Tillman at the time of his death and avers that it was friendly fire that killed him. But upon his death, safely back home, Cpl. Tillman’s name was invoked by no less a figure than President George W. Bush himself. Our hero had fallen, yet there was never a mention of friendly fire.

Until Tillman’s family became involved, and several soldiers joined Sgt. O’Neal in their protests, our native son had been a martyr for a just cause. At least, this is what was fed to the American public. Investigations later showed that Tillman’s clothing, body armor, and his personal belongings, including a diary, had been destroyed, likely deliberately. Eventually, an internal military memo surfaced, addressed to the commanders responsible, including General Stanley A. McChrystal, General John P. Abizaid, and even then-Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which clearly indicated the cause of his death was friendly fire. This cover-up went about as high as it gets. Footage from a congressional inquiry targeting the memo’s addressees, though, proves a greater point about the American dynamic. When it comes to power, Them have it, not Us. Look at the Abu Ghraib scandal or at the justification for the Iraq Occupation in the first place. The greater the atrocity, the less culpability.

The Tillman Story is a tragedy. It paints a bleak picture about fighting for a cause, yet at the same time, it offers a powerful meditation on death and what it means for the living. Pat’s family didn’t “sink quietly into their grief,” as they put it. They continued to fight, whether it was a losing battle or not. In the end-credits epilogue, we learn that Pat’s mother has left her job and now arranges funerals. If there’s anything positive to take away from this story it’s that death—and any kind of loss—leaves a legacy. It’s up to the living to bear it in a responsible way. We’ve got an important job to do, whether we’re living happily ever after or not. Michael Lee
August 20, 2010