The Tillman Story

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  • Opened August 20, 2010 (Limited)
  • 1 hr 34 min
  • R | Language

  • Pat Tillman gave up his professional football career to join the Army Rangers in 2002—and became an instant symbol of patriotic fervor and unflinching duty. But the truth about Pat Tillman is far more complex, and ultimately more heroic, than the caricature created by the media. And when the government tried to turn his death into war propaganda, they took on the wrong family. From her home in the Santa Cruz mountains, Pat’s mother, “Dannie” Tillman, led the family’s crusade to reveal the truth beneath the mythology of their son’s life and death. Narrated by Josh Brolin and featuring candid and revelatory interviews with Pat’s fellow soldiers as well as his family, Amir Bar-Lev’s emotional and insightful film not only shines a light on the shady aftermath of Pat’s death and calls to task the entire chain of command but also examines themes as timeless as the notion of heroism itself. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Josh Brolin, Dannie Tillman, Richard Tillman, Patrick Tillman, Sr., Mary Tillman
  • Director: Amir Bar-Lev
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Documentary

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Critic Reviews

100
New York Daily News
| Joe Neumaier

Mary's search drives The Tillman Story, and throughout this taut, true epic, we see a smart, sometimes angry, always loving family find their destiny: to speak truth to power, to call wartime myths what they are and to show how the American character is not about blind obedience. Read full review

100
San Francisco Chronicle
| Mick LaSalle

By the way, The Tillman Story has an R rating because of language. Think about that one, too: Lies are rated G and can be heard around the clock on television, but try saying the truth with the proper force and you end up with a restricted audience. Read full review

90
Wall Street Journal
| Joe Morgenstern

Where the film shines is in its vivid and affecting portrait of Tillman himself. Instead of the square-jawed hero memorialized by the army and lionized by the news media, we get to know a man of many gifts for many seasons. Read full review

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Carrie Rickey

Bar-Lev tells Tillman's story "Rashomon"-style, incorporating multiple perspectives on Tillman's politics (left-liberal), religion (atheist), and personal relations (he married Marie, his first and only girlfriend). Still, it is a documentary with more details of how he died than how he lived. Read full review

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Pat Tillman and Kevin Tillman in "The Tillman Story."