Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Tillman Story (2010)

Pat Tillman was a great man, there's no bones about it but, at least according to this film, his legacy will never be completely told. This movie tries to share as much as it can.

Tillman was a standout football player at Arizona State University who was drafted into the NFL by the Arizona Cardinals. The California native received many accolades during his playing career. However, after the 9/11 attacks, Pat and his brother Kevin joined the Army to serve their country in bringing those responsible for the attacks to justice. While doing recognizance work in Afghanistan in 2004, Pat Tillman was killed in action. Initially determined by military officials to be an insurgent ambush, the Army eventually concluded that Tillman had died by friendly fire. That's when all hell broke loose. Pat's family did not accept that as a valid excuse for the coverup. Tillman's mother and father began an arduous journey to determine the truth and, more importantly, get government leaders to admit fault. Easier said than done.

As with all documentaries, The Tillman Story had a clear agenda it was trying to bring to light. But it worked very well here. The facts are stated in black and white and it's up to the viewer to take away what they can. The slight problem I had with this film is it didn't tell me a lot more than what I already knew. It's a commonly held belief the feds covered up the circumstances surrounding Tillman's death, but other than that, only the scenes actually in Afghanistan were new to me. I haven't seen all of last year's Oscar nominated documentaries, but this probably could have made the cut. Grade: B+

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