Ryan McNeil
Tonight I attended a screening that will join the ranks of my all-time greatest film festival memories. At 9pm tonight, I took my seat in the Isabel Bader for the premiere of BODY OF WAR (* * * *) a great new anti-war doc about Tomas Young, a young soldier back from combat in Iraq. He enlisted two days after 9/11 thinking he was off to fight in Afghanistan. He never did go to Afghanistan, and two years later found himself deployed to Iraq instead. Five days into his tour, he was shot below the collarbone, and has since been paralysed from the chest down. The film was directed by Phil Donohue…yes, that Phil Donohue.
This experience actually started in the ticketholders line, when many of us were caught off-guard, and got good and drenched by tonight’s rain storm. Before anyone makes a comment – yes, I realize that I wrote “pretty good chance of showers all day” in this very space this morning. That said, I want to personally thank every film-goer who went to ALL HAT, and decided that they wanted to stay in the lobby as long as possible to stay out of the rain. The few hundred of us outside waiting for you to leave so we could come in truly appreciate your logic.
Two quick complaints about the crowd before I get to the positive stuff. A bit too many people seemed to be there for Eddie Vedder. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that his fame could attract so much attention…but when you’re waiting in line to go into an anti-war doc about a wounded vet, it is NOT the time to step aside and blaze one up. Likewise, girl in the last row…your yelling for Eddie Vedder towards the stage was not the sort of behaviour the rest of wanted to witness.
But…
None of that mattered, because the doc is incerdiblly moving. It beautifully mixes Tomas’ anti-war stance, with his struggle to adjust to his handicap, and juxtaposes both of them against the US senate debate over sanctioning action in Iraq. Tomas’ decision to enlist has great effect on his family, his new marriage, and his day-to-day life. While he becomes a touchstone for the anti-war movement, he seems humbled by the attention, and just wants people to see his story as another reason that the war needs to end.
Hindsight is 20-20, so watching the senators rhyme off reasons to go to war all come across as naive now. That said, an impassioned speech given by Senator Robert Boyd against ratifying the proposal to engage stands up as earnest, heartfelt, and spot-on in his feeling that going to war with Iraq was a bad idea. One cool touch was how volunteers were handing out pamphlet sized copies of The US Constitution to patrons on their way out of the theatre.
The film ended, and I was witness to my fourth standing ovation – this one unquestionably deserved. The crowd jumped to its feet again, when Donohue welcomed Tomas Young to the stage…and again when Young in turn welcomed Eddie Vedder to perform two songs he’d written for the film. If there was one letdown, it was that Young didn’t really get much chance to speak. Still, every person who watched the movie was touched by his story, and it felt like everywhere he went tonight, a round of thankful applause followed his every move.
BODY OF WAR shows twice more, on Thursday at 11:45 at The Cumberland, and Saturday at noon at The Scotiabank. I recommend it highly.