The Tillman Story

 

The documentary I chose was The Tillman Story. It was a great film and I am glad that I picked to watch it. One scene that stuck out to me was the scene where they explained the death of Pat. There was a lot of controversy of the death of Tillman and this scene finally cleared it up. The scene showed how he and his other squad members had split up and how he was killed by friendly fire. It did a great job of mapping out how the event went down. It almost felt like I was there watching it go down. The scene also included family members and fellow soldiers giving their perspective on what happened. It was a very interesting scene as well as emotional. Seeing the family members and soldiers talk about what happened was very saddening. The scene made me relieved and also emotional. I was relieved because the truth had finally come out, but it was emotional to see the family members and other soldiers talk about Pat's death. 

I was very surprised to see the military and government try to cover up the death of Pat Tillman. I think that I was so surprised because these men sacrifice their lives for our country and you would think we owe it to their families to tell the truth. However, the film showed that was not the case. I was also surprised to see Pat leave the NFL to join the army, but that just goes to show the kind of person he is. 

After watching the film, a few questions popped up. One of them being, what else does the government/military lie about or cover up? The film showed that things are not always what they seem. Another question that popped up was what were those men thinking firing at their own soldiers? My feelings of anger also stayed with me after watching the film. I was so mad for the Tillman family because they were being lied to about their son's death. I also had feelings of respect for Pat Tillman. 

I think that we should avoid research in our summaries because it limits us on how we can interpret the film. If you go into the film with someone telling you what it is about, then that is the only way you are going to think about it. I also think that doing research before will cause you to be less engaged because you feel like you already have a proper understanding of what is going to happen. Research forces us to have tunnel vision. 

If you guys think you might enjoy this film, here is a link to the trailer to explain more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daccIQzKVkg