The Tillman Story

American footballer Pat Tillman, having enlisted six months after 9/11, died in Afghanistan in 2003; initial reports claimed he was the victim of an ambush, then that he succumbed to friendly fire, but still the US military pushed the idea of a heroic death proving the justice of US foreign policy. His family, however, was not wholly convinced… The story behind this documentary is intriguing, and its telling undoubtedly slick – carefully lit interviews, decent archive footage, wall-to-wall music (including, inevitably, a smidgen of Arvo Pärt). But are we to be surprised that the Bush administration was self-serving and dishonest? Do we really need so many filler details that provide ‘human interest’? Worthy, intelligent, unremarkable.