It's June 2005. George Bush is on the radio. He's saying "My greatest responsibility as President is to protect the American people." I think, "Why do I feel more unsafe than ever?" The phone rings. It's Phil Donahue.
"Phil WHO?" I say. "Phil Donahue, I'm calling about an idea for . . . "Wait," I say, "is this a crank call?" "Don't hang up," the voice says, "I'm a friend of Dee Dee Halleck."
My mentor Dee Dee Halleck started an alternative media outlet called Paper Tiger Television and Deep Dish Satellite Network, the furthest things from corporate media imaginable. How does she know Phil Donahue, the superstar of television talk shows?
"We met on an airplane," Phil says. "I want to make a documentary about a paralyzed Iraq War veteran. I don't want a big crew. I want someone sensitive and low key, under-the-radar. Dee Dee says that's you."
I work as a one-woman crew -- very small. I've shot in women's prisons, nuclear facilities and toxic American wastelands, but never in the bedroom of a severely injured war veteran. I make films about serious issues but I always look for the humor and hope in the story.
Phil told me about Tomas Young. Tomas joined the army to find Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, was shipped to Iraq and shot in his spine. Tomas had been paralyzed, but he (and a growing number of Americans) still was not clear about why.
Phil asked me to fly to Kansas City to meet Tomas and to begin documenting his struggle to adapt to his new body. Phil didn't want big burly cameramen knocking over furniture and rearranging Tomas Young's life. I told Phil "I rarely knock over furniture."
Phil's passion was contagious. I wanted to get to know this young Midwestern man. When I talked to Tomas I knew he'd be a great documentary subject. Despite what he'd been through, he had a witty and dry sense of humor. "Soldiers voting for President Bush are like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders," he says in the film.
Phil had also meticulously organized hundreds of hours of CSPAN footage of congressional debates that led to the American invasion of Iraq. The result is a raw political expose of the inner workings of a government led astray by a neatly scripted package of lies. Body of War reveals, in a deeply personal way, how those lies changed forever the life of Tomas Young.
Once I got to know Tomas and his family, and after viewing the CSPAN coverage, I knew that this war would go down as one of the worst mistakes in American history. Delving more deeply into Tomas' story strengthened my resolve to bring this story to light. The anti-war perspective needed to take root in this film, and expand accordingly. For that, we make no apologies.
Creative collaborations are never easy and during several moments Phil and I realized that co-directing would be a challenge. Jokingly he'd yell to me in the edit room, "It's over, I don't love you anymore" and slam the door. Then we'd all have a big laugh. Our editor, Bernadine Colish, would open the window on the 16th floor and threaten to jump. That would crack everyone up and then we'd leave Bernadine alone and let her work her editing magic. Sometimes I'd fight for something subtle and poetic that Phil would want to be hard-hitting and direct. In the end, Bernadine united our sensibilities to create an intimate film that is also unabashedly and powerfully political. Body of War is the result of a very passionate collaboration.
It was important to us that Body of War be cross-generational. Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) volunteered to write two original songs which capture the two threads of the film perfectly. LONG NIGHTS reveals the inner life of Tomas Youngwhen he's not sure he can make it through another day. NO MORE speaks to the political reality of this war, and is certain to become the most powerful anti-war anthem of the 21st century.
I'm deeply grateful to Phil Donahue for having the vision and faith to tell this story, to Tomas Young for letting me into his life, and to Bernadine Colish for connecting all the dots.
Ellen Spiro
Austin, Texas
May 2007