Many Americans still like to think of the John Wayne movie hero as a model for soldiers to emulate — the tough, non-emotional fighter. But there are kinds of heroes, and this documentary profiles one of them.
Two days after 9/11, 25-year-old Tomas Young enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight America's enemies in Afghanistan. But he never got there. When President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, Tomas was dispatched to Sadr City. While riding in an unarmored Humvee, he was shot just above his left collarbone. The bullet paralyzed him from the chest down, and he returned home in a wheelchair. While receiving treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he began to question the rationale behind the Iraq war and the lies and untruths foisted upon the American people. He became involved in the Veterans against the War in Iraq.
Directors Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue have made a searing documentary about the heroism of Tomas Young as an anti-war activist. On the screen we see the courage and patience of a young man who takes a large amount of pills every day, whose bladder must be manually drained, and who frequently gets light-headed and has a difficult time regulating the temperature of his body. Here is the heroism of relying on the assistance of his wife and mother to make it through a day. Here is the heroism of a disabled person who regularly uses a puke pan and deals with erectile dysfunction. Here is the heroism of an older brother who sadly watches as his younger brother heads off to Iraq while his mother bursts into tears. Here is the heroism of Tomas Young as he speaks out against the war on 60 Minutes and in a church where he is the guest of honor.
In counterpoint to Tomas's courage and heroism is the disgraceful and morally wrong-headed actions by members of Congress who authorized President Bush's invasion of Iraq and all those who helped the administration sell the war to the American public. It is fitting that this documentary ends with a meeting between the heroic young Tomas and the elderly Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia who defended the Constitution and was the most outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Body of War also features two songs written and performed by Eddie Vedder.
