No Hollywood Ending: ‘Tillman Story’ Powerfully Probes Military Cover-Up

Pat Tillman’s life had Hollywood written all over it. An NFL star, with the square -jawed good looks of a Marvel Comics superhero, Tillman exchanged the lure of fame and fortune following 9/11 for a dangerous stint in the Army Rangers and lost his life on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The military claimed he died in an enemy ambush on the Pakistan border and awarded him the Silver Star for valor. But, as Amir Bar Lev’s new searing documentary “The Tillman Story” so powerfully depicts, things aren’t always as convenient as they seem.

It became clear to military investigators pretty early on that Tillman was, in all likelihood a victim of so-called friendly fire, killed by his own troops. Yet they continued to perpetuate the myth, using Tillman as a symbol of patriotism, making him an attractive, high-profile poster boy for American sacrifice in our new Age of Terror.

Tillman’s family wasn’t told the truth until after the memorial service. And it would be their dogged pursuit that unearthed crucial and disturbing details of Tillman’s death and the cover-up that followed. Tillman’s mother Mary poured over 3000 redacted documents, discovering one horrendous detail after another. Among the most horrifying was the burning of Tillman’s uniform to destroy evidence and ordering soldiers to lie to the family at the funeral. It would be weeks, in fact, after President Bush eulogized Pat Tillman as a “classic American war hero, ” that the military would finally publicly acknowledge that he was actually killed by a stray bullet in the confusion dubbed “the fog of war.”

Tillman never fit the central casting role of a gung-ho military hero. By all accounts he was a private, thoughtful young man, a well-read honors student, who never made a public statement about his decision to join the military ( along with his brother Kevin) and expected the press to respect his privacy. He was an avowed atheist who had qualms about the U.S. invasion of Iraq, telling fellow soldiers he thought the invasion may have been illegal. Yet when the military and the NFL secretly arranged for him to return to the football field without completing his tour he refused, insisting it was his duty to complete the three year commitment. His next stop would be his last one: Afghanistan.

Narrated by Josh Brolin, the film offers a nuanced portrait of a complicated man and a determined family whose relentless efforts exposed one of the most cynical and egregious known cover-ups in United States military history. Using the familiar documentary techniques, Bar-Lev juxtaposes interviews and footage in a compelling, often pulsating way, as facts are revealed and emotions boil over.

The culmination of the family’s rage and frustration is displayed in a letter Tillman’s father, Pat Sr. wrote accusing the military of fraud. That letter led to an internal investigation and a Congressional hearing. Not surprisingly, the military memories were hazy during the hearings with deflection being the stance of the day. Eventually a mid-level general would fall on the scapegoat’s sword and face demotion.

Bar Lev’s “The Tillman Story” bestows a grander honor on both the fallen hero and his family than the military’s shabby attempt at covering up the truth and manufacturing a shiny Hollywood ending. The truth may be grittier but it is also far more noble.

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