Just saw this at Sundance - really moving film. Everyone I was with cried in a good way. It was touching and gave me faith in how we treat soldiers killed in Iraq.
shareYou should have faith. We treat each and every fallen soldier with "dignity, honor, and respect"....that is our motto at the Port
"Look at banner Michael!" - GOB
I agree. I just saw this on HBO tonight and was very moved by the respect and ceremony around our fallen heroes. Chance Phelps deserved every ounce of that respect. I was very impressed by the choice of Kevin Bacon as Lt.Col. Strobl. He did a marvelous job. I'm so glad I watched it, and am recommending it to friends and family.
God bless our military men and women. Don't be discouraged by all the negative people out there. Please ignore them.
There are plenty more of us who love & support you, and are grateful to you for your sacrifices in protecting our country.
It's about damned time that Hollywood treats our military with respect. Because they normally don't, that's the reason why every movie about Iraq in the past several years have been box office disappointments at best (Jarhead) to utter flops at worst (Redacted). Regardless of what the mainstream media would have us believe, Americans do not hate our military, and stand behind our position in Iraq.
Billy the Kid
I'm sure HBO would have gladly made this movie into just one more political opinion piece, complete with a clip from Bill Maher's crapola show, but Strobl probably maintained total control over the final product.
Good for him!
For such a sad subject this was a wonderful film. I had tears in my eyes from the moment it started.
I also think everyone should see this movie. I think one of the things that has been lost in this war is the fact that we haven't seen the true "cost" of what is going on. During Vietnam I remember my parents watching the evening news and their silence when the fallen soldiers were shown - I think we should still do that .... out of respect for the men and women who are there for us.
<---- The original instant message
They did not show anyone being killed in Vietnam on the nightly news of the day. That was back in the days when the media was on America's side. All they talked about was how many were killed and wounded every day... on both sides.
Nice and clinical. Or statistical.
No, they didn't show anyone being killed but they did show the dead return home. Now, we get a "number" ever so often and unless someone from your area was wounded or killed .... you never hear about them.
<---- The original instant message
Anybody notice that now that B. Hussein Obama is Commander-in-Chief that we no longer get a running account of the deaths in Iraq or Afghanistan? Do ya think it could be because of a biased media? Ya think?
Billy the Kid
You did! Such a clever boy! You get a star just for that!
Many people have also noticed by now that referring to Barack Obama as "B. Hussein Obama" is a very cheap and infantile way of trying to sow irrational hatred against the president.
But hey, at least your facts are correct! You must be so proud of yourself!
Sorry, Jaco. I am not at all trying to sow hatred. I am pointing to the fact that his Muslim roots were obliterated by the mainstream media, and indeed by John (the Loser) McCain himself, when we should have been paying attention. This man has made one anti-American act, statement, or policy after another; and our media has played, and is playing, right along with it. Obama seems to be doing his best to destroy this country, and is doing a damned good job. Therefore, using "Hussein" is perfectly reasonable.
Billy the Kid
Thank you for your civil reply, much appreciated. And you are entitled to your opinion that everything Barack Obama does is anti-American, but I'll just leave that there.
It just seems that you make an automatic connection between the muslim faith and being a terrorist/anti-american/al qaeda or whatever. Which is truly sad, if you want to rely on general misconceptions and not care to study different religions a little deeper and be able to distinguish between mainstream followers of a religion, and the extremists.
Barack Obama's ties to the Muslim faith is rather vague, unless you want to believe every hysterical publication and Rightwing Dan in the pub who also can't get over the fact that Obama's dad chose to give him a middle name of Hussein. (Only to disappear from his life.) At no point in Obama's life did he attend an extremist school, but obviously he kept his names, never shying away from who he is.
Now, for the record, I am not American, but a South African (born and bred). I've spent time in the USA, have wonderful American friends all over the country, and because of my interest in world affairs, follow American politics to some extent. You may believe that disqualifies me from having any sort of opinion on your president, but I'd disagree.
South Africa is internationally known for its apartheid policies of the past (1948 - 1994). The white minority government of those years did some pretty hideous things, and our country is still suffering from the consequences. Now, using your logic of Obama's muslim roots and how that is supposed to define him...would you therefore automatically brand me a white racist thug, simply on account of me being a white South African?
Jaco, you are meandering to the point where I don't know what you said here. So let's go point by point.
I never said everything Obama does is anti-American. I did mean to say that he appears to be doing his level best to show his hatred for this country.
There is no automatic connection between Muslims and terrorists. HOWEVER, there is a virtually 100% connection between terrorists and Muslims. Since the end of the Irish Troubles, virually all the terrorism in this world has been caused, and usually aimed at, Muslims. Please don't say other religions are responsible for terrorists; i.e. Hitler was a Christian. That's nonsense. Hitler didn't do the things he did in the name of Chritianity. Indeed, there is no other religion in the world that espouses terror. The Koran does.
Obama's ties to the Muslim faith is indeed tenuous. But, in the 9 months he's been our President, he has contiually and continuously bowed and scraped to every tinpot Muslim strongman, organization, and loudmouth he's encountered. Remember him bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia? That pissed me off, as it did everyone here who understands what a bow is.
Why would I brand you a white racist thug? I don't know you. While the past policies of SA were atrocious, I also understand that the country was prosperous when under white rule (at least for whites, that is). Now, again as I understand it, SA is about as disfunctional as practically every other African country. What about the generations of whites who lived there having to give up their land and wealth? Don't they have a say in what goes on there?
Billy the Kid
Thanks bmodica, it is a pleasure having a conversation with you, without the kind of name-calling and insults we often see in internet communities. And sorry for a slow reply, this is my first visit to imdb pages in quite a while. And sorry if I wasn't overly clear in my arguments, but it seems to me you did get my points, mostly anyway.
I'd like to get to some manner of a conclusion though, we've kind of hijacked somebody else's thread, though it hasn't been a waste of my time to be honest. I think it's always helpful to understand different perspectives.
I'll try to be brief but clear. I admit, my very first reply to you was unnecessarily rash and sarcastic, and I apologise for that. Some days little things just tick me off, and I think that was one of those days. Nevertheless, I do still believe that referring to Barack Obama - as he is popularly known - as B. Hussein Obama is a bit of a low blow. After all, none of us can choose who we're born to, and what names we're given at birth. Now can you really deny that the emphasis on "Hussein" is not bound to stir up fundamentalist feelings (on both sides) to a degree? I do think that continual use of that will have an overall negative effect - but that is just my opinion, and not a fact.
Your disapproval of Obama's behaviour towards Muslim leadership is of course very valid and I will not contest that. I have no problem with what you said there. But the point I'm labouring to make here is that I believe you're more likely to get people in the opposing political camp to listen to you by using sound logical arguments rather than employing the "Hussein" tactic. Again, just my opinion.
To me the whole Hitler/Christian issue has little relevance to today's world, and I trust you were not trying to put words in my mouth there, but only wrote that to counter a counter-argument. (A kind of a pre-emptive strike!) Anyway, I won't use such a poor counter-argument myself.
Finally, your assessment of the South African situation is quite accurate. We're not quite as dysfunctional yet as Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, etc etc... but we're heading in that direction, like a runaway train. Which is an extremely sad state of affairs. Your question about the whites who were productive and built the country/land up to the economic and agricultural marvel it once was, hits a raw nerve. A very raw nerve - an uncle of mine was cruelly murdered on his farm. (Good on you for acknowledging that not everybody were vile racists, as so many stubborn liberals like to believe. But sadly, some were, and that was the downfall of white power.) All of this is a very different debate though.
I'll appreciate another reply from you, but I think I've said my piece!
Best wishes, Jaco.
Hi, Jaco. Ya done good, kid.
A couple minor points. Calling Obama "Hussein"; yes, absolutely correct. It is a low blow, and I don't care. Go back to my post about our fawning press. They gave this cheap suit a complete pass on every negative aspect of his useless life. He had (has) no substantial background to speak of. He's been running political campaigns his whole life, with nothing to show for it except fooling some of the people some of the time. So, I'll call him anything I want.
I don't care about getting people in the opposing camp to understand my position. For 8 years, a good and decent man, G W Bush, was ridiculed and reviled by 99.578% of the world's press. For what? For not being a Democrat. The opposing camp simply cannot understand logic. That's manifest in the extreme. So why bother? Logic is what it is.
The Hitler analogy is one I hear again and again. It is pointless as well as incorrect as an analogy. Yes, I was heading you off at the pass. Forgive me for putting words in your mouth but it's a real common inanity.
Finally, thank you for a cogent treatise. It's about time I don't see "ur", "4", or "it's" for your, for, and its. English is a precise language, and the nitwits who are being bred by our liberal teaching establishment don't understand, or care, or even know, why they should speak and read properly. And for you nitwits our there, IT DOES MATTER!
Billy the Kid
Yeah, re your last paragraph, I know how you feel Billy. I've never before bothered with posters using "ur", "4", "l8ter" or my pet hate, "LOL"s replacing any form of punctuation... but I admit I often get my apostrophes wrong. As Afrikaans is my mother tongue, I'm used to slightly different rules but I'm aware of it and try to minimise my mistakes when writing in English. You've probably noticed I use British spelling, but as SA once had to endure awful British rule, we're stuck with doing things their way (mostly).
As promised, I'll retreat from this side-conversation here, but not before I wish you luck at the next election - I'm sure you're already counting down the days! Yet I do hope you get to talk to some in the opposing camp, in the same civil way as we have done. South Africa (if I may drag my country into this once more) managed to avoid civil war in the early 1990's because opposing factions agreed to stop planting bombs and TALK to each other. Yes, SA is in a downward spiral 15 years later, but it could have been a real bloodbath back then and there'd have been a major collapse of government and infrastructure. If that had happened, I wouldn't have been sitting here tonight with the luxury of visiting movie-websites and having dialogue with someone else across a vast ocean.
Best wishes!
(& signing out,)
Jaco
Deciding to watch the Oscars or the politcal rap on tv tonite I chose to watch Taking Chance as I knew it would be the closest thing to reality I would experience. People become so wrapped up in their day to day struggles they forget about the innocents that pay the price for our freedom. More Americans should show respect for their country and the men/women that give their lives with little or no recognition.
God Bless America!
You are about to be deleted...
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I watched the movie with a lot of anticipation, and I was not disappointed. I was so impressed by the care taken with fallen soldiers and the dignity and care they receive, as they certainly should. I am an Air Force veteran, and I thought standing at a gate in -40 degree weather was the worst job you could have. I had no clue. The people who care for these soldiers to prepare them to be returned to their families... man, God bless them.
I spent pretty much the entire movie suppressing the urge to cry, but the final photos of Chance Phelps did me in. It was a beautifully made movie, but not one I am anxious to watch again too soon.
I agree it's a wonderfully moving film that brings dignity to the soldiers regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are regarding the justification or lack of for the war.Source:Movie Reviews - Taking Chancehttp://moviereviews.noskram.com/2009/09/movie-reviews-for-taking-chanc e
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