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THE TILLMAN STORY Send This Review to a Friend
The larger picture of duplicity hovering over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is epitomized by the story of football star Pat Tillman, who joined the Army Rangers and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. Instead of telling the truth—that he was killed by friendly fire—the brass concocted a fake story about how he died a hero and used it to promote the misbegotten Afghanistan war. His family heroically pursued the truth against intensive efforts at cover-up. The film, “The Tillman Story,” directed by Amir Bar-Lev and narrated by Josh Brolin, effectively captures the drama and the shameful revelations in the battle waged against the might of the military.
Tillman was a rugged American who didn’t seek heroism. He joined the service out of a sense of duty to his country even though it meant leaving his gridiron career. When he was declared a hero, it became a big press item and the government milked the tale to the fullest. When the truth began to surface, the result finally led to the admission that he was apparently killed by other American soldiers in accidental shootout, the circumstances of which the film explores.
If there is a real hero in the case, it is Tillman’s mother, Mary, who doggedly went after the facts and pressed for an investigation of the cover-up. How high up did knowledge of the deception go? The film indicates that discovered documents show it did not just happen at a lower level, as the military has tried to say. The implication is that it probably went up to the White House during the George W. Bush administration.
Protests on the part of the family, including by his wife, Tillman’s outraged father and his brothers led to a hearing in Congress but the film implies that there was too much deference to the military to have the full story pursued.
All of this is laid out clearly by means of emotional interviews, factual material, film clips and attention to the hurt caused the deceived family. The athlete-turned-soldier’s death at the age of 27 in itself was tragic, as with others lost in the fighting. However, the lying about it and the exploitation to help sell the war to the public come across as diabolical. There needs to be further exploration into the case and the chain of command responsible for the distortion and cover-up. But perhaps this compelling film is about as close as we will get. A Weinstein Company release.
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