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The Tillman Story
Documentary about the man who left the NFL to join the Army
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The story of Pat Tillman has resurfaced from the rubble of American masculinity and heroism as a poignant documentary. Brooklyn-based filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev weaves together a horde of multimedia accounts detailing the myths and emotional realities surrounding the man who gave up a multimillion dollar NFL contract to go fight for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
As we should recall from the news in 2004, Pat Tillman’s death by gunshot was the cause of major scandal within the U.S. government. At first lauded to Herculean proportions by the military, government and sportswriters for his bravery while defending his platoon against an Afghani militia, it was later revealed that Tillman’s death was a case of fratricide and bereft of involvement from enemy fighters.
The Tillman Story, which opens today, recounts how the Tillman family experienced the unfolding of this military transgression. In a story that is inherently anti-heroism, it is Pat’s mother, Dannie, who leads the charge through the fog of war that destroyed her son. The documentary depicts Dannie diligently hunting through 3,000 pages of documents the government had given her in attempt to satisfy the grieving mother’s quest for truth, while simultaneously overwhelming her with useless information. Pat’s brother, Richard, who joined the army along with brother Kevin at the same time Pat did, is featured displaying his outrage at Pat’s funeral and in intimate interviews with colorful accusatory language. Patrick Sr., an attorney by trade, voices the family frustrations as he writes acerbic and vulgar letters to the U.S. military, eventually spurring a Defense Department investigation and subsequent congressional hearings, which passively exposed the involvement of President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the recently defamed General McChrystal.
Don’t expect any major revelations concerning political scandal or conspiracy to be revealed during the viewing of this film. Most of the incriminating information shown here is already available to the public. However, what the film does do in a subtle, unbiased manner is dig into the wreckage of American heroism and masculinity, uncovering further faults. It is a narrative that comes into light against the backdrop of “the greatest generation” in a striking state of anticlimax.
One of these subtleties that the filmmakers employ is Josh Brolin as narrator, whose voice is most familiar as Lewyellen Moss in No Country for Old Men (not to mention lampooning the president in Oliver Stone’s W.), adding to the McCarthy-esque restructuring (or destroying) of American mythology. The use of Neil Young’s 1980 ironical song “Hawks and Doves, about patriotic American’s ignoring the consequences of imperialism as “hawks and doves are circlin’ in the rain” above, exemplifies the tired ways in which the antiwar generation’s protests have concluded as sarcastic lampooning of U.S. foreign policy and the death of the American hero.
The Tillman Story fails to bring new and exciting drama to the pallet, as it is not acerbic or incriminating as it could be. But the fact that it joins a slew of other films in exposing negative aspects of praised American masculine personas, such as Cormac McCarthy’s stories do, makes the film absolutely necessary. After all, one only has to read today’s news to see that this horse has still got some life in it. And as along as that’s true, we need filmmakers to continue the beating. Despite having a bit of a dull blade, Amir Bar-Lev has the skill and creative awareness to dig into that horse.