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If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It is extremely hard to watch this film form many many reasons.It is about the lies told by the administration that were repeated almost word for word by the Congressmen and Congresswomen as they voted to abdicate their responsibility. Even the Democrats in both house were repeating the Republican talking points. Only 23 Senators and 123 Representatives had the courage to speak with their own voices and vote no. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia was the most eloquent in defense of the right of Congress to wage war under the Constitution of the United States.As this was play out, we were immersed in the family and travails of one soldier that managed to last only five days in Iraq before he was sent home paralyzed to suffer the rest of his life. The failure of our country to provide him with the proper care is a shame on the Bush Administration. We send them to die and suffer tremendous injury but we could care less once they return.I learned more than I every wanted to about urinary tract infections and catheters. I was amazed that his mother could even stand to be around her husband, a dittohead that also repeated the party line and the Fox noise.And, of course, we know now that this soldier suffers needlessly for a war that should have never been waged. That is a shame we all have to live with.

Body of War runs a bit less than 90 minutes; but the experience of seeing it makes the time fly by so that one is surprised to see the closing credits.This fine film is so much more than the conventional "war documentary". The story of Tomas Young and his family is masterfully interwoven with scorching snippets from the Senatorial voting process that authorized Bush's invasion of Iraq in such a way as to make the personal and the political mesh to the point of implosion.Body of War is an extraordinary document that focuses on the experiences of Tomas Young in such a way that one can begin to imagine how many tens of thousands of severely wounded American veterans (and their families) must be going through similar trials. This is a movie that is projected as much on your heart as on the screen.I put it to you that unless you, (or someone in your immediate family) has been there, and come back with major lifelong damage, you can't fully appreciate the human costs of this war. Seeing "The Body of War" is about as close as you can get to beginning to feel what the wounded vets and their families feel. This review doesn't say much about the existential content of the film, and that's intentional. The twists and turns are all the more telling if they are surprises.The editing is sharp and potent. The music, especially the two new songs by Eddie Vedder, works in profound harmony with the powerful images on the screen. There is no doubt that Body of War will be in contention for an Oscar next year. It's that strong.Whether one is for or against this war, I put it to you that you must go see this movie. This is what our tax dollars are paying for and where America's blood and guts are being spent lavishly. The least we can do is bear witness to this heart wrenching/eye opening story.I was privileged to see Body of War at a preview that Phil Donahue recently presented in Washington DC. He spoke briefly before the movie and graciously took audience questions and comments afterwards.This important movie was clearly a labor of love for him and for co director and film maker Ellen Spiro. Donahue made clear that he would not be taking any profits from this film.I urge you all to go to the website http://www.bodyofwar.com/ and see if this will be any where near you in the coming months; and if it isn't...contact your local theater owner and request that it be screened. Once you've seen it; you'll want others to see it too.

When "Body of War" premiered in Toronto, it reportedly received the longest standing ovation in the festival's history. I wasn't able to see it at the time, and I missed it in Santa Barbara as well. Just in the past few months it's become one of the most acclaimed documentaries in years. So I jumped at the chance to see it here at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival.Co-produced by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, "Body of War" is about one man's struggle to survive after returning home from Iraq. It takes the news headlines and puts flesh on them. The consequences of a simple Congressional vote have come home to roost in people like 25-year-old Tomas Young, who is now a paraplegic and a physical embodiment of all that is wrong with our government's actions over the past five years.The cost of war is always reported in terms of numbers -- dollar amounts, casualties, refugees. What isn't reported on the evening news are the individual stories, the tragedies that result in broken lives and broken hearts. Tomas' story is representative of the untold thousands -- hundreds of thousands -- of young men and women coming home from Iraq with life-altering injuries. No, our presence in Iraq isn't just about numbers, and "Body of War" brings it home, literally.It's obvious that a mind-boggling amount of work went into this project. The film's narrative runs along two parallel tracks. On one, we see the Senate vote taking place which originally authorized the war funding. We see legislators take to the floor with equally impassioned pleas on both sides of the debate. Meanwhile, the film cuts back and forth to Tomas' day to day existence, unflinching, from getting out of bed and dressing in the morning to a graphic demonstration of how to put on a catheter. Nothing is held back.Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder contributed original music to the soundtrack and, as Peter, Paul, and Mary did a generation ago during the Vietnam War, and countless others in wars before that, the songs of protest only serve to underscore the folly that is the Iraq war.As "Grapes of Wrath" exposed America to transgressions against human lives generations ago, "Body of War" is a bold statement which will stand the test of time as a profound achievement in telling the truth about the consequences of America's presence in Iraq. The film is a masterpiece and one of the most powerful documentaries I've ever seen. A warning: this film will bring tears to your eyes over and over and over again. It will move you emotionally and, perhaps, politically. Very few films are truly worthy of the word "important." This is one of them.

Body of War is an immensely moving portrait of a very heroic young man, Tomas Young. Not only is he an inspiring individual, but so is the team that collaborated to help tell his story.The robust standing ovation the film, Tomas, Ellen Spiro, Phil Donahue, and Eddie Vedder received following its world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival is indicative of how utterly powerful and courageous, like Tomas, a documentary it is.Body of War not only exhibits the senseless brutality and arduous (if unthinkable) aftermath brought by war, but also shows us how quickly people can rush to judgment -- even when under the most critical circumstances –- and unconsciously overwrite the blatant lessons many of us hoped were learned from the past.Hopefully Body of War can encourage present and future leaders, as well as citizens alike, to "slow down" and never rush to judgment, especially when our best and brightest -- such as Tomas –- will undoubtedly be thrown into harms way. Watch this film."No more war"!