Read the Jan. 3, 2008 interview in The Desert Sun.
"We're all very pumped, we're all wired and we have no idea what's in store," said talk show pioneer turned director, Phil Donahue.
Donahue and co-director Ellen Spiro are excited by the accolades their documentary, Body of War, has received, particularly the National Board of Review's Best Documentary award and a spot on the documentary shortlist for Oscar nominees.
Donahue was moved to tackle the director's chair for the first time after meeting soldier Tomas Young at the urging of friend and outspoken anti-war activist, Ralph Nader.
"Tomas was laying there, very loopy under wall-to-wall morphine," said Donahue. "As I stood next to his bed, I thought a couple of things: America should see this, and I can't just pat him on his head and disappear." Instead, he began to document Young's post-war life.
"The poor kid — here we are parachuting into his living room," Donahue said. "We had no written agreement. It's scary when I realize how much he trusted me."
Young enlisted in the Army on Sept. 13, 2001, after hearing President Bush make an impassioned speech at the rubble of the Twin Towers. After five days in Iraq, he became paralyzed from a shot to his spine. Body of War follows the day-to-day care and mental health that resulted from this war injury.
"Tomas went from a life of loud music and singles bars to a life of puke pans and erectile dysfunction," said Donahue. "I told Ellen, 'I want to show the pain; don't sanitize the war.' "
Donahue drew inspiration for exposing the truth from Nick Ut's photograph of a naked child fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. He notes that the present administration will not allow photographs of the coffins of dead soldiers. "Nobody even fought it," he said. "There was no hubbub."
"Every major metropolitan newspaper supported the war," Donahue asserted. "As if we ever needed an alarm to alert to the sycophantic nature of the media."
Media reform grassroots movements and Norman Solomon's book, War Made Easy, provided motivation for his efforts. "The movie attempts to show the reality of war," said Donahue. "Before the next president swaggers in and says 'Bring it on,' I want them to meet Tomas Young."
Much of Donahue's argument lay in a document adopted by America 220 years ago. "We've so sanitized the war, that when they chipped away at the Constitution, we turned our back on it," he said. Donahue said it is as if politicians said, " 'Free speech is kind of a quaint idea, but not very practical.' They would turn down the Constitution if put to a vote."
"If we listened to framers of the Constitution, Tomas Young would be walking right now," said Donahue. "We promote democracy all over the world, but can't back home."
Directorial duties for the film were split between Spiro covering the personal documentation of Young and Donahue handling Congressional material and an interview with Senator Robert Byrd. Young's account is interspersed with the votes that led to the war via the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, highlighting Byrd's fervent debate against the war.
"Why don't we marry these two?" Donahue thought. He decided to present Young's story with "how we got there after a bumper sticker debate and lemming-like response to the White House Iraq Group with scores of spineless Congresspeople (spouting) talking points."
"There is Iraq documentary fatigue among movie people," Donahue acknowledges. "But what shocks me is that we don't have Iraq casualty fatigue."
"Little Miss Sunshine we ain't," said Donahue regarding the divisive topic. "But what you see is a drama that plays itself out in thousands of homes be hind closed doors."
"Here we are in the middle of a presidential campaign, and this is a big, big deal," Donahue said. "Give this young man a platform; his is a respected voice that will rise above the war drums."
"Miracle workers we're not," concedes Donahue. "It's a contribution; we want to be players in the anti-war movement."
"To continue this war is morally indefensible," he said. "It's unaffordable, unconstitutional, unnecessary and unwinnable, and we're still counting bodies as we speak. Not one dead American soldier is worth saving face for an old man."