IS TAKING CHANCE AN ANTI-WAR FILM?
Only those who subscribe to HBO on cable had an opportunity to see the awardwinning film Taking Chance on Memorial Day 2011. Directed by Ross Katz, the film is a true story based on a journal written into a screenplay by Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, who volunteers as military escort officer to accompany the dead body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, to Phelps’s hometown of Dubois, Wyoming in 2004. The film traces each step of the journey, indicating exactly how the military handles such assignments and the impact on civilians and former military along the way. From the slow salutes of the body to the final memorial service, Stroble (played by Kevin Bacon) visibly holds back tears over the teenage American, slain in Iraq by an IUD, and the solemn music in the film puts filmviewers to the same test. The main puzzle in the film, why Stroble volunteered to leave a desk assignment to make the trek, is answered as he confesses some guilt for decisions he made in the Marines despite rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Perhaps the main surprise in the film is that when Phelps’s body arrives in the town with a population of 962 persons, the entire town is prepared to honor their son, many dressed in full military uniforms. The film ends with pictures of Phelps as a boy, always with wide smiles, and has a dedication not only to Phelps’s memory but also to all those who have died in Iraq. For those who hold the military in high esteem, Taking Chance is a fitting recognition of those who sacrifice themselves for their country. For those who oppose war, the film can be viewed as a reminder of the human toll. The film is a breakthrough in another sense. Photographing coffins of those dying in war was banned in 1991 by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to hide the cost of the upcoming Gulf War. After President Barack Obama became president, the ban was lifted, effective February 26, 2009. While deliberating whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, his insomnia brought him to Dover Air Force Base to see the arrival of eighteen coffins on midnight October 26, 2009. MH
THE TREE OF LIFE PUZZLES SOME FILMVIEWERS
The Tree of Life, written and directed by Terrence Malick, may provoke single members of audiences to walk out, as they did recently at a screening in chic West Los Angeles. Those who are married and have kids will remain, transfixed. Memories of childrearing combined with a lyrical filmscore of classical music will keep them in their seats for nearly 2½ hours without much of a dialog and very few faint voiceovers. A hidden plot, however, may escape their attention as they view middle class Mr. O’Brien (played by Brad Pitt) try to bring up three boys in a suburb of Waco, Texas, as a strict father who goes to Catholic mass, enjoys a little fun, and focuses on the piano, organ, and classical music from an LP recordplayer as if he wished music had been his career choice. Set in the 1950s, the film begins with a funeral for their 19-year-old son, presumably in the Korean War, and the impact of that death on the family. Among the three boys, the focus is on 11-year-old Jack (played by Hunter McCracken), who tries to reconcile his father’s demands with the more precious view of life from his mother (played by Jessica Chastain). From the way O’Brien treats his kids, one might infer that Malick wants to explain why the 19-year-old died. But instead the impact of the O’Briens’ childrearing on Jack comes in the form of a flashforward to a Jack (now played by Sean Penn) as an executive in Houston who is still searching for his identity. The screen begins with a quotation from Job, features a preacher who tries to explain misfortune, and has artistic visuals that suggest the beginning of the universe and end of the planet earth. The Tree of Life should best be viewed at home, where parents can guide their children—and themselves—through an exploration that prefers cinematic realism to storytelling. MH