The Daily Background

On Wednesday night, I went to a special screening of Phil Donahue’s new documentary Body of War in advance of its Chicago premier tonight (film trailer above). Donahue was also on hand for a Q&A session after the film and I also had a chance to chat with him at length afterwards (photo of the two of us below). Donahue shared stories with me of how he used to lug around suitcases full of equipment and we both agreed that I was probably lucky to have been born at a time when I could take advantage of more more portable technology (I’m a documentary film major myself).

The film itself was quite well done. It follows the story of an Iraq war vet, 25 year old Tomas Young who enlisted two days after 9/11 hoping to find and kill those who attacked the United States. Instead, he was shipped out to Iraq and five days later he was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the chest down. After being given short shrift by the Veteran’s Administration Tomas decided to become an activist and speak out against the war.

The film, which was met by a standing ovation when Donahue walked out afterwards, chronicles his anti-war activities and also the struggles he has in adjusting to his new wheelchair-bound existence. This is interwoven with archival footage from politicians speaking both for and against the war in October 2002 when the Joint Authorization for the Use of Military Force was passed by Congress.

Throughout the film, viewers are also treated to a list of the Representatives and Senators who voted for and against the war, perhaps to remind voters where their elected representatives stood on the war in advance of the elections this November. Since the screening I attended was here in Illinois, when Senator Durbin’s name was read off as one of those who opposed the war in 2002, the audience broke out in applause (this was one of several moments which caused crowd reaction; another was when Hillary Clinton was shown egging on the war which caused several hisses in the audience).

Donahue said that his inspiration for making the film was the Kim Phuc’s 1972 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a Vietnamese girl running from a cloud of napalm smoke.

For your enjoyment, I recorded a few clips of Donahue speaking at the Q&A about the film and about the current political climate. Sorry the video is so dark, but the audio is pretty clear.

1. Donahue talks about his struggles getting the film distributed theatrically.

2. Donahue talks about how complacent the media was in the rush to war.

3. Donahue talks about what didn’t make it into the final cut of the film.

4. Donahue on what you can do.

5. Donahue on the Administration’s attempts to scare the public.

6. Donahue on why the war is unfair to veterans.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog