Weinsteins Fighting R-Rating For Tillman Story
A week after Adam Yauch went to war (unsuccessfully) with the MPAA ratings board over A Film Unfinished's "bullsh*t" R-rating, Harvey Weinstein is appealing (and, of course, publicizing) the same injustice against his Pat Tillman cover-up exposé The Tillman Story.
The rating cites "excessive language," to which producer John Battsek responded in a press release: "Of course there is excessive language [...] This is a film that follows a truly exemplary family torn apart by the death of their loved one and the barrage of government deceit they encountered in their pursuit of the honest truth."
Harvey agreed, adding:
"This is one of the most important films I've distributed in my career, and I want my teenage daughter, and the nation's young adults to be able to watch Pat's story. We need to learn from this story, and limiting who can see it is not the answer."
Fair enough, but let's face it: The MPAA is a collection of scumbags whose sole purpose is to work with Washington. A bigger audience for The Tillman Story is not in either of their interests. Doesn't make it right! I'm just saying.
Moreover, for better or worse, it's a documentary, meaning a pretty limited art-house audience in any case. That said, had the Weinsteins just thrown a few slap-happy, naked girls and some over-the-top gore into the the viral campaign a la the very R-rated Piranha 3D, they would have kids sneaking into this one all weekend long.
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Yeah, your right that it's not in the interest of a lot of governmental folks to see this film get wide play:
In his “The Fog of War” interview with Jason Guerrasio Amir Bar-Lev, the director of “The Tillman Story,” said: “… there’s been no culpability on the second half of this tragedy, which is the higher ups trying to cover it up. … to borrow a football metaphor, they [the Tillman family] ran the ball 99 yards over four years time, they handed it off at the one-yard line to Congress and they fumbled it...."
Shortly after Sundance, Bar-Lev emailed me that “he was pretty hard on the Democratic Congress in his film.” True, his film does portray Congressman Waxman’s Oversight Committee as ineptly failing to get answers from the top military leadership during their hearing.
However, Bar-Lev’s film missed the ”untold story” that both the Democratic Congress and the Obama Presidency have intentionally protected General Stanley McChrystal from scrutiny and punishment for his central role in the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death. This cover-up was a thoroughly bi-partisan affair. It wasn’t just a case of the Bush administration and the Army stonewalling the Democratic Congress. Congress didn’t just “fumble” the ball, they threw the game.
Five years ago, Pat Tillman’s family were handed a tarnished Silver Star. It was a travesty of justice that President Obama and the Senate promoted General McChrystal to the Army’s highest rank, and handed him his fourth star.
It’s not surprising that after their initial cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death fell apart, Army officers and the Bush administration lied to protect their careers. But after they took control of both Houses of Congress in 2006, the Democrats (including Congressman Waxman, Senator Levin, Senator Webb, and Senator McCain) could have gone after those responsible. Or at least not promoted them twice!
Just before the 2006 mid-term elections, Kevin Tillman published his eloquent letter, “After Pat’s Birthday”. Kevin had hoped a Democratic Congress would bring accountability back to our country. But, just as with warrantless wiretapping and torture, those responsible for the cover-up of his brother’s friendly-fire death have never been held accountable for their actions.
In the “The Emperor’s General” I described how President Obama’s covered for McChrystal and why Obama made his own “big-time fumble” at Sun Devil Stadium.
I’ll shortly post a new document, “The [Untold] Tillman Story,” that consolidates material from my previous work and updates it with new information. Although it focuses primarily on Congress’s role in covering for General McChrystal, it also discusses the role of President Obama, NYT reporter Thom Shanker, and CNAS’s Andrew Exum. I also describe how Yoni Netanayahu, Rachel Corrie, and Senator Webb are part of the Tillman story.
. . .
The documents referenced above are posted at http://www.feralfirefighter.blogspot.com
Mary Tillman has just published a paperback edition of her 2008 book “Boots on the Ground by Dusk” with a new foreword. It’s available at http://www.blurb.com
Jon Krakauer has also published a paperback edition of his 2009 book “Where Men Win Glory.” He’s extensively revised his book, added about 50 pages, much of it adding more detail to the Army’s cover-up of Tillman’s friendly fire death (especially the role of Gen. McChrystal).
I would recommend that your readers also check out Amir Bar-Lev’s Sundance interview, “Amir Bar-Lev On What You See (and What You Don't) In His Hot Sundance Doc The Tillman Story”
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