Documentary examines Tillman's death, cover-up
by Hugh Hart sfgate
When football star turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan six years ago, the U.S. military presented him as a soldier who died leading a charge against Taliban militants. A few weeks later, the truth came out: He'd been killed by friendly fire. Amir Bar-Lev's documentary "The Tillman Story" chronicles yet another battle by describing how Tillman's parents in San Jose (California) took on bureaucrats to learn the details of their son's death.
Whitewash in Wartime
by Ari Karpel NYT
The driving force in "The Tillman Story" is Mary Tillman, Pat’s mother, as the director Amir Bar-Lev follows her and her family’s quest to learn the facts surrounding the 2004 death of her son. Hailed by the Bush administration as a hero, Corporal Tillman was said to have died saving the lives of his fellow soldiers in a blaze of Taliban gunfire.
But that description turned out to be false. The family’s suspicions and their insistence that Corporal Tillman not be used as a publicity pawn for the war pushed the Army to revise its account, revealing that Corporal Tillman was probably killed by "friendly fire."
"His death should have been criminally investigated from the very beginning," insisted Ms. Tillman, known as Dannie, in a phone interview. "By making up the story they didn’t try to find out what really happened." |
'The Tillman Story' documentary loses MPAA rating appeal
Despite protests by its producer, director and distributor that "The Tillman Story" is an important documentary that should be available to young people, it has lost an appeal to have the Motion Picture Association of America change its R rating to PG-13.
Producer John Battsek and director Amir Bar Lev made a personal appeal Thursday in Los Angeles before the appeals board, which is composed of studio distribution and major exhibition executives, but could not persuade them to change the rating. That makes it unlikely that the picture will be made available to young people in schools and through libraries in years to come.
Brolin blasts 'Tillman' R rating
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. star Josh Brolin, the narrator of the documentary "The Tillman Story," lambasted the film's R rating at its Los Angeles premiere.
Dumb: Pat Tillman Doc R Rated for 2 F-Words
"Excessive language" is the MPAA's reason for the R rating. They're referring to two uses of the word "f***." It apparently matters not to the ratings board that both times the word is spoken with moral righteousness. The first time Pat Tillman, Sr. quotes a letter he wrote to military investigators who'd bungled their inquiry into his son's death. He ended it with this line: "In sum, f*** you...and yours." The second time viewers are told the very last words of Pat Tillman, words he shouted just before being shot by fellow troops: "I'm Pat f***ing Tillman!"
|