It’s difficult to judge this Iraq War related documentary on its own merits, having just screened it surrounded by a politically opinionated audience that is motivated… to speak their minds, at least. As I approached the theater I was assaulted by fliers and giant signs that read “Impeach Bush and Cheney.” Now, I may not be the most politically alert person out there, but it strikes me that even if we were to start impeachment proceedings at this point, wouldn’t their terms have ended by that time anyway?

My opinion was shared and expressed by one of the film’s creators, Phil Donahue, who was on hand for a question and answer session following the film. But instead of fielding questions, Donahue found himself back in the role of talk show host while the audience aggressively vented their political beliefs and unabashedly shouted their ideas for fixes. You could even see the frustration on Phil’s face as—moments after he explained how Impeachment proceedings would just distract from the real issues—a woman in the back shouted “Impeach Bush” at the top of her lungs. This may have been a politically “aware” audience, but they weren’t getting the point.

But whereas he didn’t field many questions, Donahue did receive a lot of praise for the film itself, which gets be back to the true subject of this review.

The subject of Donahue’s film is Tomas Young, one of the many of this country’s young men who enlisted in the army just days after the September 11^th attacks, inspired by Bush’s rousing speech on top of the rubble. Young was going to go to Afghanistan and fight the bad guys. Instead, he was sent to Iraq and just five days later he was shot and crippled for the rest of his life.

Now Tomas lives in a wheelchair, but the film makes a point that this is not the only way he has been affected by this injury. His body temperature can’t adjust itself, he suffers from frequent infections and he can’t make love to his new bride Brie. He has joined “Iraq Veterans Against the War” and has spoken at many functions and appeared at many rallies advocating for the removal of our troops in Iraq. Meanwhile, his poor mother has to watch her younger son Nathan head over to join the fight. She must let him know that she is proud of him, but she knows she would be just as proud if he “worked at Target making six dollars an hour.”

The story of Tomas is intercut with our country’s Senators as they debate the issues of the Iraq War. It was easy to tell which side of the fence each senator fell on by whether they were booed or cheered by the surrounding audience. Of course, Bush got the worst of it and there were moments when I thought popcorn and sodas were going to be hurled toward the screen.

Much of the senatorial focus is on Robert Byrd, who acts—along with Tomas—as the film’s hero. He was the most outspoken Senator against the bill that set the power to declare war firmly in the hands of the president and not congress, but his “no” vote was one of only 23 out of 100.

His speeches in the film are so strong that even I, a political bystander, couldn’t help but be invigorated. The film gets a little cheesy near the end, however, when it has Byrd read the names of the 23 Senators who opposed the bill, played over a painfully patriotic soundtrack seemingly intended to portray each of them as the next Abraham Lincoln. When one of them manages to convince the other 77 voters to change their opinions, then I’ll be impressed.

That said, I would recommend this topical documentary to anyone interested in further understanding what is going on with this issue. Of course, it goes without saying that you have to understand going in that this film only shows one side.

From an entertainment standpoint, the film is very well done. The 87-minute film runs along at a decent pace and there are plenty of tension-relieving moments of humor accompanied by some touching scenes that nearly brought me to tears. And most importantly, I walked out of the theater feeling I had learned something.

Just be careful which crowd you end up seeing this film with. I’ve seen a few Iraq war docs in the theaters, but this one had the strongest reaction by far. There may be a riot.

Body of War is not rated. It would probably be PG-13 if not for one scene that—although it is not explicit—certainly makes it an R film for language and brief nudity.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Body of War.