'The Tillman Story': Reviews Uniformly Glowing and Trusting

After S.T. VanAirsdale of the hard-left film site Movieline wondered aloud who Big Hollywood would choose to “smear” with respect to the upcoming documentary “The Tillman Story,” I responded that when a leftist propagandist launches that kind of near-hysterical preemptive tactical strike, it can only make you wonder what all the defensiveness is about.

Then, as if to thicken the plot, that same day, Jeff —The Latino Lover— Wells was so righteously piqued by my response to VanAirsdale that in a post titled “Lock and Load” he found it so necessary to rush to the film’s defense he reran his entire review. (Which gave Glenn — The Lawyer Callerer — Kenny an opportunity to slam us…again — which I’d be happy to respond to if not for fear of lawyer-callering.)

Obviously all this interest only increased my curiosity, so over the weekend I took a look around the Web and read everything I could find written by those who (unlike us) have seen the film. Interestingly enough, every review and/or write up I came across shared two common characteristics: The first is glowing, effusive praise; the second is that not a single write up questions the validity of even a single frame of the film.

As of right now almost all of the critical community is rallying around director Amir Bar-Lev’s look at the aftermath of Pat Tillman’s death. And these critics are not only strongly recommending the film to their readers and feel that this cinematic examination into the behavior of our military and government is important, but also — in no uncertain terms –they’re telling the public that “The Tillman Story” is the unvarnished truth. Many, like the L.A. Times, go even further and praise the doc for rising above partisan politics.

In that spirit, below are direct links to some of the higher-profile reviews and write ups. It’s only natural with pull-quotes that the full context might be lost, so let me encourage you to read each of them in full. After some of the snippets you’ll find an explanation as to why I chose that particular quote. Let’s start with the most surprising:

Variety’s Dennis Harvey:

When pro football star turned post-9/11 Army enlistee Pat Tillman was killed in the course of duty, the embarrassing actual circumstances were covered up and turned into a flag-waving story of heroism that the Bush administration happily — and knowingly — used for propaganda purposes. …

As the pic notes, however, high-level officials simply found a midlevel scapegoat, then seemingly lied their way through a Congressional hearing, and excused themselves from further culpability. While precise circumstances may never be known. Tillman’s death appears to be the result of gross negligence at best, and perhaps far worse than that, with the most damning account relating that a fellow solder — or soldiers — shot at Tillman for up to a full minute, from a plain-sight distance of 40 yards.

This stands out: Tillman’s death appears to be the result of gross negligence at best, and perhaps far worse than that[.]

What does that mean exactly? Does “The Tillman Story” insinuate something sinister above and beyond the friendly fire incident? Or did the top trade paper in the industry see something no one else did? Because none of the other reviewers mentions anything even close to that.

Los Angeles Times’ Steven Zeitchik:

‘Tillman Story” seek[s] a Place Above Politics

Indeed, neither movie seeks to take sides but rather aims to show the ambiguous and difficult circumstances of the war in Afghanistan. Of course, it’s impossible to completely avoid ideology and political messaging, and “Tillman” in particular wades into political waters as it condemns the U.S. Defense Department for conspiring to spin the circumstances of Tillman’s death for the sake of recruiting more soldiers (which is probably why the film has caught the attention of Michael Moore, who’s called it “one of the most important movies you’ll ever see about the U.S. military.”)

The most interesting part of this write up is how badly the LA Times wants it both ways. The most important part of the story — the headline — proclaims the film “seeks a place above politics,” but the closing paragraphs aren’t as sure.

Salon’s Andrew Ohehir:

You see, “The Tillman Story” isn’t just about the fact that Tillman was killed by friendly fire and the military brass lied about it, and essentially have never stopped lying. It’s also about the fact that from the moment of his death, and even before, the former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals star became a mythic, über-patriotic hero, the centerpiece of a right-wing, pro-military propaganda fable. He was never allowed to be who he was, a surprising, curious, and even eccentric individual who didn’t fit the mold of either football player or gung-ho soldier.

Tillman returned from a tour of duty in Iraq convinced that the war there was both ill-advised and illegal; he reportedly had read essays about American foreign policy by Noam Chomsky and expressed an interest in meeting him.

Box Office Magazine’s Ray Greene:

Despite the political hot button Tillman pushes, Bar-Lev is not in any sense a cliché axe-grinding liberal documentarian.

More assurance there’s no agenda.

Hollywood Reporter’s Justin Lowe:

An alternate title for this clear-eyed, gut-wrenching docu might be “The Tillman Cover-up,” since it focuses on the Army’s misrepresentation of facts surrounding the 2004 combat death of Corporal Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. …

Capably narrated by Josh Brolin, Amir Bar-Lev’s penetrating and vital docu goes beyond tracking the Tillman family’s investigation into Pat’s death to question the motives of commanding officers and higher-ups, including the top Bush administration Gulf War generals of the time, as well as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. News clips, archival footage and interviews with Tillman family members provide perspective on Pat’s life and unfortunate death, along with testimony from fellow soldiers and Stan Goff, a retired special-ops expert who reveals the military’s techniques for managing public perceptions.

Bar-Lev astutely examines not only the combat record, but also many Americans’ penchant for military glorification — as well as the media’s complicity — that makes the public susceptible to officially sanctioned propaganda. Even after all the lies were unmasked, not a single active duty solider or Bush administration official was held responsible in Tillman’s death.

Movieline’s Kyle Buchanan:

Tillman had actually been killed by his own troops in a case of friendly fire, and the Army’s cover-up was so outrageous (Tillman’s body armor, uniform and vest were burned) and all-encompassing (as leaked memos from the highest levels of government would show), that Amir Bar-Lev’s Sundance documentary The Tillman Story can’t help but compel.

Again, I won’t comment on the veracity of a film I haven’t seen. And until we know different, we can only assume that the lack of skepticism Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Salon and these others have shown is based on their own individual knowledge of the facts of the Tillman case and not some knee-jerk response to champion and take at face value anything that makes America, George W. Bush, and our military look bad.