The Tillman Story, B
The Tillman Story is a very intriguing documentary. In short, it discusses Pat Tillman's role in the army and the government's false story of his death. One prevalent theme is the American tendency to fantasize situations to the point that the beauty in the truth is lost. Tillman's mother angrily points this out in court when she comments that Pat was a hero even though his death wasn't stereotypically heroic. What these guys do isn't pretty, it's dirty, bloody, and disturbing. They are heroes for doing it in the first place; you don't need to die for your comrades to be a hero. I think this is such an excellent point. One point Pat's younger brother emphasizes is that Pat didn't believe in religion. In this country we use religion as an escape from reality; it gives us meaning in a meaningless world. This is unfairly seen as a cynical and hopeless view; in reality, it's just honest. It doesn't imply negativity at all, that's just how a religious society taught us to think. The wonderful Sweedish duo First Aid Kit sings to my point in their song "Hard Believer" in which they sing, "I don't need... your meaning to feel free. I just live because I love to and that's enough you see."
The Tillman Story isn't the greatest most important revealing documentary, however it contains many obvious or underlying comments about American culture that are worth seeing in context.
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