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Phil Donahue guests on KPBS Film Club tomorrow morning

April 22nd, 2008 by Scott Marks

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Phil Donahue, Tomas Young, Ellen Spiro & Eddie Vedder

Phil Donahue will be joining us by telephone on KPBS-Radio’s These Days tomorrow to talk about his new film Body of War.

The dean of the modern American talk show, long absent from the airwaves, co-wrote and directed this gut wrenching documentary about Iraq vet Tomas Young. Young felt it his patriotic duty to enlist two days after 9/11. The 25-year-old soldier took a bullet to the spine after serving only five days in Iraq. (Young arrived in Iraq ten months after our disillusioned Commander in Chief declared “Mission Accomplished!)

Instead of adapting a straightforward “bash Bush” approach, the film chronicles Young’s return home and his struggle to adapt to a paralyzed body. We watch in horror as he slowly regains consciousness at Walter Reed Hospital and begins questioning the entire premise of Bush’s folly.

It is not often that I cry at movies (unless it’s a debilitating Will Ferrell comedy), but this one had me weeping almost from the get-go. I probably won’t sell any tickets by telling you upfront that the film is a downer, so if you feel like taking a walk on the mild side there is always the new Morgan Spurlock assembly of skits, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

There has been a glut of anti-war documentaries released over the past several years and after having seen all of them, Body of War is easily the strongest and most honest indictment of America’s “war on terror.” Don’t waste your time on another SNL-spawned atrocity this weekend. As difficult as the subject matter may be, I doubt that you will see a finer, more moving portrait anytime soon.

For those of you living in the San Diego area, Donahue’s collaborator Ellen Spiro will make a personal appearance this Saturday night at Landmark’s Ken Cinema.

If you can’t join us live, make sure to download the podcast.

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