Review Taking Chance

Taking Chance Best Review

I'm a Marine veteran of the Iraq war who has done countless funeral honors details. This touched me so deeply. A detachment from my unit was assigned to mortuary affairs as well, so I couldn't stop seeing my friends' faces and hearing their stories as I watched this. For some reason it's easier to be the one doing these services for our fallen brothers than to watch someone else. My wife and I wept through the entire film.

I wept for my fallen brothers and for their families. I think she wept because she lives with the fear that I may be the one being escorted home, as well as for our friends and family who have been through this, and are going through this even as we speak.

This film hits hard through understatement. There is nothing exaggerated or overplayed in this movie. There are no politics, no jingoistic flag-waving. Just quietly respectful displays of support for our warriors and their families, our nation and her colors. Kevin Bacon displays phenomenal restraint in a role that could easily have been overacted. With Col Strobl as the military advisor, the attention to detail is impeccable with regards to Marine Corps customs and courtesies. I could believe that Bacon was actually a Marine as I watched this- and we're experts at identifying our fellow Marines vs. frauds.

A word of caution:
Several reviews have indicated that this may be good for children/families to watch. I would be very careful in making this assessment. It is probably just too much for the children of currently serving deployable servicemembers to digest. My children are all under age 10, and in the wake of my deployment and the fears they lived with, I don't believe it would be good to expose them to such detail. There are several somewhat graphic scenes of the handling of the fallen. Keep in mind, these are not gratuitous in the least, and are conveyed with the utmost respect and realism. The showing of the bodies' preparations and the blood-stained personal effects are images that will sear anyone's soul. The anonymity of it (no faces of the fallen are shown) preserves the non-exploitative purpose of the film, but also could allow an easy association for a child that "that could be my Mom/Dad/Uncle/Older Brother/Sister, etc." Discretion is advised.

On the other hand, I would recommend this for viewing by anyone over the age of 12 or 13. It is critical that every adult and soon-to-be adult fully understand the cost of war, and realize the consequences of our national policies, whether for good or for bad. Even in justifiable and politically agreeable military operations, the cost in life is deeper than the individual servicemember. For each one serving, there are countless family and friends, neighbors and fellow citizens living with love, concern, compassion and respect. This film portrays in the most honest and unadulterated, apolitical fashion the heart of the American spirit: Sacrifice, Courage and Respect.

It isn't possible to say enough good things about this movie. At the risk of cheapening this invaluable portrayal with a trite label, this is absolutely a must see.

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Taking Chance Feature

• Based on the true experiences of Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who wrote eloquently of them in a widely circulated 2004 article, Taking Chance is a profoundly emotional look at the military rituals taken to honor its war dead, as represented by a fallen Marine killed in Iraq, Lance Corporal Chance Phelps. Working as a strategic analyst at Marine Corps Base Quantico in VA, Lt. Col. Strobl (Kevin Baco

Taking Chance Overview

Based on the true experiences of Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who wrote eloquently of them in a widely circulated 2004 article, Taking Chance is a profoundly emotional look at the military rituals taken to honor its war dead, as represented by a fallen Marine killed in Iraq, Lance Corporal Chance Phelps. Working as a strategic analyst at Marine Corps Base Quantico in VA, Lt. Col. Strobl (Kevin Bacon) learns that Phelps had once lived in his hometown, and volunteers to escort the body to its final resting place in Wyoming. As Strobl journeys across America, he discovers the great diligence and dignity in how the military, and all those involved with preparing and transporting the body, handle their duties. Equally important, he encounters hundreds of people affected by Chances death, a vast majority of whom never knew him. This collective grieving eventually causes Lt. Col. Strobl, a veteran of Desert Storm now assigned to office duty, to probe his own guilt about not re-deploying to Iraq for the current conflict. Arriving in Wyoming, Lt. Col. Strobl completes his catharsis when he encounters Chances gracious family and friends, and discovers an extraordinary outpouring of community support.

Taking Chance Specifications

The made-for-HBO Taking Chance is based on perhaps the single most moving artifact to come out of the Second Gulf War, Lt. Col. Mike Strobl's first-person narrative of his voluntary mission escorting the body of a fellow Marine killed in Iraq. Strobl (played in the film by Kevin Bacon) hadn't known Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps but, noticing they'd been born in the same western town, he requested temporary leave from his duties as a manpower-deployment analyst at Quantico in order to accompany the 20-year-old's body home. Home, as it turned out, was no longer their shared birthplace in Colorado but the high-country Wyoming town of Dubois. The journey would take Strobl deep into the heart of his nation, and his own heart as well. There's no overstating the power and beauty of what he encountered: one instance after another of not just military personnel but airline employees, passengers, and bystanders doing honor--mostly wordlessly--to Chance's coffin and his escort as they passed by. First-time director Ross Katz deserves credit for declining to inflate any of these moments or underscore their meaning with grandiloquent speechifying, and Bacon--an actor who couldn't hit a false note if his life depended on it--is true to the Desert Storm veteran's self-discipline and emotional discretion. The picture's decency is unimpeachable, and Strobl's story, transcending pro-war and anti-war politics, is itself an act of healing. What's missing is the seasoned hand of a great director (Ang Lee, say) to invest it with the rhythm and movement of a fully achieved feature film. Still, this is a journey you'll feel enriched by sharing. --Richard T. Jameson

On the DVD
Several somewhat overlapping short videos offer testimony to Chance Phelps's fun-loving spirit, heroic death, and spiritual legacy by his family, friends, and fellow Marines. They're good people. There's also a brief deleted scene--actually, portion of a scene--and some not particularly illuminating commentary on the making of the film. --Richard T. Jameson

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Customer Reviews

Taking Chance - S. Landes -
Fabulous film.. Everyone should take the 70- 80 minutes that it takes to watch this moving and meaningful film.



twelve star movie - John Fowler - San Antonio, TX USA
A must viewing for everyone who cares about the military or a person who has served.



Taking a Chance on "Taking Chance" is worth it! - P. O'brien - Boston, MA USA
This was a great movie and I loved every minute of it, I cried several times and though I do cry sometimes in movies this was especially well made and thus the emotion.

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Mar 05, 2010 08:14:19

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