It’s certainly not easy to promote a film about this subject as it’s not an easy one. But there is just something about the Tillman family that is compelling to watch — and yeah, their good looks are certainly part of it. I feel like it’s one of the best films of 2010, so I hope it gets the attention it deserves. Tillman’s brother Richard appeared on Bill Maher’s Real Time to discuss the film. The clip is after the cut.
The Tillman Story is a documentary made about the short life and horrible death of Pat Tillman. If you don’t know the story of Tillman already, and even if you think the know, the movie will still reveal a lot more information about it. Basically, though, it’s the story of how Tillman gave up his football contract to go fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. He came from a military family and was a stand-up guy anyway – so he felt it is his duty to go fight in a war he thought was necessary. Things changed quickly for Tillman after he went over there, though, and even before he was killed by friendly fire he had already become disillusioned with how the war propaganda machine was going. Tillman was being positioned as an American hero already. Tillman was killed by friendly fire, American soldiers on our side. But it was covered up and made to look like Tillman had died “fighting for our country.” He was used by the politicians on both sides, really, until his mother (and family) decided to find out just what happened to Tillman. He had decided not to have a military burial, for instance, because he didn’t want his death to be used as a publicity tool. Unfortunately for the family, the truth was never, and has never been, fully recovered. The details of that day are still in question. He was shot within fairly close range by trigger happy soldiers who were either freaked out or blind to what they were shooting at. Friendly fire is common in war, but the cover-up here was what caused Tillman’s family to get suspicious.
The documentary by Amir Bar-Lev interviews his family and attempts to piece together the events of Tillman’s death. What it does best, though, is piece together who Tillman really was as a human being, a great human being in my view – an admirable, intelligent, ambitious, brave, foul-mouthed hero who wasn’t so much a hero in death as he was in life. If there had been a better investigation and the truth revealed, perhaps Tillman could have died a hero – he did die a hero – just the not the kind of hero our government wanted him to be. As it is, he remains a victim of war.
