The movie works best when we're simply a fly on the wall to Young's adversity, be it problems in his fledgling marriage or how, during a speech, he keeps stopping because he can't hold his head upright for too long. One stand-out scene shows, in full detail, his mom helping him use a catheter to drain excess urine, and what you think is going to be an uncomfortable-to-say-the-least moment ends with mother and son laughing hysterically.

The lack of ego and relatively little self-pity Young has is astounding. Things other documentary subjects might rather keep private, he's completely open about, both in terms of his physical issues ("There's a whole 'erection' sidebar to my problems, too," he remarks at one point) and his mental state. He'll describe how he sometimes stares jealously at people walking, and the constantly casual tone he keeps even when describing these darker places of his psyche is at once admirable and heartbreaking.

During the Congress scenes, a debate played out in my own head: how accountable should those who voted in favor - including famous democrats like John Edwards, John Kerry, and Hilary Clinton - be held? Isn't it easy to judge them and their repetitive rhetoric now that Iraq has proven to be a disaster? Faced with the knowledge they had, how could they have known?

But it's not just a case of hindsight being 20-20. The signs were there that Iraq would become a mess and any elected official has a duty to explore that. The warning against giving the president so much power is right there in the Constitution. And the fear-mongering? Well, it was pretty obviously just that. Byrd reads a quote early in the film:

"People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." –Hermann Goering, second in command of the Third Reich

As a result of the hasty decision, made three weeks before an election, American troops are returning home in wheelchairs and body bags, and the uninjured are returning for extended tours of duty. Just ask Tomas's younger brother, who's serving in Iraq right now.

Movie Grade: A-

Synopsis:

Body of War is an intimate and transformational feature documentary about the true face of war today. Meet Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed from a bullet to his spine - wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Body of War is Tomas' coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his ...