ReThink Interview: Amir Bar-Lev, director of THE TILLMAN STORY
My ReThink Interview with Amir Bar-Lev, the director of the documentary THE TILLMAN STORY, which tells the story of pro football player Pat Tillman, who quit the NFL to join the Army Rangers and the cover-up that ensued when Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
In this interview, Amir talks about why he wanted to tell Pat Tillman’s story, why there was not more public outrage when it was revealed that the military’s stories about Tillman and Jessica Lynch were lies, why America seems to crave a “sanitized” version of war, and what Amir’s favorite movie is.
For more about THE TILLMAN STORY, visit http://www.tillmanstory.com/
For more ReThink Interviews and Reviews, visit http://rethinkreviews.net/
Video Transcript
the very first time i met the tolan
family it was at the congressionalhearing in two thousand seven pc at the
filmi was same minor when she said policing
the film which is it's not about patpersonal and that was something thatjust struck me becauseyou know i think there's a kind of a
misperception out there that the familyis doggedlyyou know trying to reach justice for pat
tillman they as she says so clearly thenshe said consistently sense that moment
andto the present-day it's really not about
pat it's not about something we of thetone and family it's what we ourselves
as a countryand do we needwhy have leaders at the very very
highest level of government they guyswho are for instance to be in charge of
the lives of oursoldiersdo we want to let those people you know
allied with impunityactually verymhm childlike lives that they get away
with main it's pretty remarkable howdog ate my homework ask some of these
lies are and yet they they workso the family is not fighting for
themselves are fighting for usand we should all have those high
standardsit struck me watching the film just
yesterday actually been spent justlaunch has been on my mindthis is the thingwe didn'tdo any kind of particularly gum shoe
kind of investigative journalismjessica lunsford so we have in our filmwe got from the mainstream press we got
from like a_b_c_ are one of thosearchives okaywhat they had on their raw tape was very
incriminatingthey they justchoose to use it and their stories when
they were calling her at the femalerambookay so that is the problems like thisthat's the that's the problem in a
nutshell rightwomen like find out anything
specifically on our ownwell we did wasuse a different part of the raw tape
when part we usedyou can actually hearthe production team the film production
teammaking sure that this poor girl who's
supposed to be a you know being rescuedin thisthere are a midnight operation making
sure that that flag is that you knowjust in the right placeand and and and she's terrified and in a
lot of pain and they're begging her tosmile for the camera basicallywhy they chose not to use thathimpart of the storyit's not some sinister thingyou know wherewell it is sinister but it's not like
you know some shadow government forcedthem to do thatthey take the narrative the narrative
was taken from the movie is is this ideaof thisblond woman being of scottish by these
dark arrow dark-skinned hordesyou know and she's emptying out her
weapon and you know she saved by theseyou know dashing paladins coming from on
highokay these are all night yes right and
it works that resonates with our culturein that likespeaks to some deep mythology that we
believe inthey chose that story and arranging of
the flag didn't fit into itright so that's you know that's that's
what we do have here in a nutshellwe as a societythough we'd we want to use feed
ourselves a sanitized version of warwe don't know i look at the coffins i
come back you noted that to blameyou know the bush administration on
underon the fact that we weren't able to look
at those coffins as wrong because is theclinton administration that that
actually said that line set into motionbut also we we get the type of
government that wethat we want you know we didn't really
want to sacrifice after nine eleven as acop as a culturewe want to go out and shop we want to be
told that you know are the best way thatwe could you know sacrifice for our
country would be to not sacrifice andsimilarly it we don't want touh...you know we don't want to face whatwhat war is really about because you
know we'd rather have a kind of ahollywood version of it in our mindsand you don't mean just yesterday
looking out here in the time of the bushadminit's perpetuate because like the
m_p_a_a_ a radar fromyou know the firm languageso but they're basically saying is it's
okay for the r_o_t_c_ to come and thenyou know and geek and out those video
games that show that purport to showyoung people how how amazing you know
how exciting warrenbut it's not ok for these guys to hear
how soldiers actually talk which is togps or fucking you know when they're
being shot at princess di always issociety you knowdon't want to face the war's all about
and we alsoeven putting aside militarism we arunyou know we'd worcester ma before about
jessica lance likewe karnar enamored with our or our
stories are movie stories in ourhollywood stories and uh...passed on and fit the billin nineteen eighty eightand when when when the time for churchfacts about who he actually was pecan
from the sidewe had to shut those awayis a can fit into that hollywood
cookie-cutter role that we needed in theplaymy favorite movies this is final pathsokay and enact i'd find thatas i go through lifei'm fine i'm constantly comeback that
movie becausetheum...the nuances of the waydoes to those actors adelaidecertain kind of selfsomewhat sore like them progressive nano
self aggrandizement you know sort of thefarmingin the tillman story for instance if you
have a momentwhere upandreporter asks pete gerenaboutthe after they've just pin everything on
phil can zingerthey they basically you know they've
found a scapegoat and there was thisretired general to adjust retiredand this in the front row this to sell
reporter saysheat pump trying to make some sense of
this to you know you know you say thatall the blame lies in the sky full
kansian he just happens to adjustretired is there some coincidence there
and instill sorry pete gerendoes this thing on his face figuresat i'm not for he's basically saying i'm
not even saying it was kinda like notfollowing you what the main draw the
parallel for itand it's a stop at moment you know
because this is like thisis this ham handed thing that people
doing ajit did not following it you knowand iby his own iran that has stuff and i was
in you've you know i meanbirthit's so you know i learned some lessons
from slash
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing entitled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield." The hearing focuses on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture and rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq. The Committee examines why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable. Rep. Elijah Cummings questions Specialist Patrick Tillman's brother Kevin Tillman about communications inside the White House related to his brother.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing entitled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield." The hearing focuses on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture and rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq. The Committee examines why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable. Chairman Henry Waxman gives opening remarks.
Keith Olbermann asks Wes Clark about the cover-up of Tillman's murder. Clark says orders for such a whitewash would have to come from "the very top." The Rabbit Hole on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rabbitholenews
Tillman Military Scholars Richard Garcia and Melissa Stroh. Highlights from the 6th annual Pat's Run held Saturday, April 17, 2010 at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium.
Feature and coverage courtesy of Fox Sports Arizona.
Pat's Run in San Jose, April 25th 2009. A benefit for Pat Tillman, former NFL Arizona Cardinals. Who died in Afghanistan.The foundation goal & mission is to carry forward Pat's Legacy by inspiring people to make positive changes in themselves and in the world around them. Over 6000 joggers & runners participated in the events.National Anthem by Thia Megia volunteer
This ESPN Sports Century biography on Pat Tillman is divided into six parts. I think this aired in 2005. For updated information, read "Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman" by Mary Tillman http://www.amazon.com/Boots-Ground-Dusk-Tribute-Tillman/dp/1594868808 and "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" by Jon Krakauer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385522266/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594868808&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R1ZC333SDPTXNBP09RW
This ESPN Sports Century biography on Pat Tillman is divided into six parts. I think this aired in 2005. For updated information, read "Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman" by Mary Tillman http://www.amazon.com/Boots-Ground-Dusk-Tribute-Tillman/dp/1594868808 and "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" by Jon Krakauer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385522266/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594868808&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R1ZC333SDPTXNBP09RW
On HBO's Inside the NFL, Peter King interviewed Denver QB Jake Plummer about the horrific treatment the Tillman family have received over Pat's death. There have been four investigations into what really happened to him and now a fifth one is getting close to being completed. How reprehensible has this been for the Tillman family? Pat is killed and they were repeatedly lied to. The family is not speaking out, but Plummer is. Good for him. Somebody has to.
For more on this, see:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/25/MNGD7ETMNM1.DTL
Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.
See: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/
The Bridge at Hoover Dam is an extended photographic essay resulting from a two-year personal project by Jamey Stillings. For more information, see: www.bridgeathooverdam.com
The Oversight Committee holds a hearing, "The Tillman Fratricide: What the Leadership of the Defense Department Knew." The hearing is part of an ongoing investigation and follows a previous hearing held in April. Witnesses will include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Former Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. John P. Abizaid (Retired), Former Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers (Retired), Former Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Gen. Bryan Douglas Brown (Retired). Gen. Kensinger has been served with a subpoena, but has not been able to be located over the past several days and will not appear. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton questions Secretary Rumsfeld on apparent gaps in his preparation to testify.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing entitled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield." The hearing focuses on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture and rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq. The Committee examines why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable. Rep. Bruce Braley questions whether edits were made to original reports about the incident that resulted in Tillman's death.
