Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6: BODY OF WAR
Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue’s portrait of an Iraq War vet debuted at Toronto in 2007. It went on to screen at the Hamptons, AFI Fest, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and SXSW, among other events.
Tomas Young called his recruiter just two days after September 11, convinced by George W Bush that he could be part of the team to bring al Qaeda to justice in Afghanistan. Eventually, however, he ended up in Iraq – for all about five days before he sustained injuries that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Spiro and Donahue follow Young as he becomes a vocal – and poignantly visible – reminder of the cost of war, appearing at anti-war events and demanding answers about an exit strategy four US troops. By focusing on one veteran’s experience rather than presenting a wider survey, the film wisely allows viewers to form a deeper intimacy with Young and his struggles. A parallel thread on the US Senate floor that follows West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd’s passionate call to push back the tide of war, as well as an army of pro-war senators parroting Bush’s talking points, is decidedly heavy-handed in contrast, but a meeting between Young and Byrd towards the end of the film helps mitigate its overuse.
what (not) to doc 