Taking Chance (HBO/DVD/2009)
This endless war in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan, has split the country; not as devastatingly as the war in Vietnam did, but has divided nonetheless those who think it a wasteful intrusion into the divisions of other cultures and those who think it necessary to preserve the peace at home. But one thing that is decidedly different from the atmosphere in this country forty years ago is the way Americans are treating the returning men and women who have – or continue – to fight there.
Some of these service personnel have returned home unscathed, some have returned beaten psychologically as well as physically, and some have returned in caskets. And most of us have no idea of the military protocol connected with the returning dead as we have not been educated to the nuts-and-bolts of such delicate operations. Thus the value of HBO’s TAKING CHANCE, now out on DVD.
Based on Lt. Col. Michael R. Strobl’s article on his role in taking the body of Corporal Chance Phelps to his final resting place in Wyoming, this extraordinarily sensitive journey is heartbreaking from start to finish. And that’s good. The simple and uncomplicated script of Strobl and director Ross Katz wastes no time with sentimentality, but rather exposes us to a closer examination of how the military – in this case the U.S. Marines – brings dignity and honor to their fallen.
As a well-schooled progressive-liberal, this approach allowed me to weep from start to finish. And then some. Whether or not this nineteen-year-old’s death was wasteful or to be endured, someone actually died. And Katz and company take us on our journey with a lack of maudlin excess, permitting us to grieve alongside his family and platoon.
What is so remarkable about TAKING CHANCE is in showing how human the response of the folk along the route, whether it’s saluting the van as it drives across two-thirds of America, as truckers do with their lights, or boy scouts holding American flags up, and the simplicity of folk in a coffee shop thanking the military officer (played with grace and dignity by the solid actor, Kevin Bacon) for his voluntary deed.
It is extremely rare to find a mostly plotless story so deeply affecting. And the muted acting of the rest of the company is refreshing, indeed. Veterans such as Tom Aldredge, Guy Boyd, John Bedford Lloyd and Tom Wopat, coupled with a strong cast of young men and women who play the Marines and civilians along the way, make for a riveting film.
There certainly is hope for the American political system when Hollywood meets the Hinterland with such elegance, distinction and good manners – a winning combination by anyone’s standards.