Review of Body of War (2007) by Sylvia L — 19 Apr 2008

There have been many moving anti-war movies that have come out since the US invaded Iraq over bullshit, but Tomas Young's story really hits you on a personal level that really drives home the deeper implications of our government's betrayal of the American people -- a betrayal that shows itself in butchering the constitution and failing to take care of its own people.

Especially touching is the story of Tomas Young himself, physically incapacitated at such a young age. The intimacy of detail about Young's disability that he is willing to reveal and that is told so well in the film really puts all the issues on such a human-scale: if it's hard for us to conceive of the effect of war on thousands of Iraqis and Americans killed, we can imagine, at least, the devastation it has had on one young man's life, from the daily difficulties of getting out of bed, to his dependence on ice packs to regulate his body temperature, to the cache of meds he has to take on a daily basis, to the difficulty of urinating, to the effects on his sex life and marriage.

Young is sharp, articulate, and courageous in allowing us audience into his life after such devastation, and it is clearly this kind of courage, not the false courage of the myth of the Iraqi war hero, that this country needs right now.