Starring Kevin Bacon, it aired for the first time last night. Based on a true story. If you have a way to view it, do so. It was simply fantastic.
Starring Kevin Bacon, it aired for the first time last night. Based on a true story. If you have a way to view it, do so. It was simply fantastic.
It plays again tonight on several times later in the week according to the HBO schedule.
Oops! I forgot the link.
Thank you, Kendall, for recommending this dramatization of a true story. I turned to it from the insipid Academy Awards.
We don’t hear about how the military (especially the Marines) honor its fallen, even when no one is looking, nor do we comprehend how many there are. We saw how gently the mortuary people washed and arranged Chance’s body, how they burnished his belt buckle and tailored his uniform to fit perfectly, even though the casket would remain closed. We saw the formal salutes given at each leg of the journey and the care taken that he went feet first into every conveyance. It surprised me that civilians honored Chance and knew instinctively what Col. Strobl’s mission was. Kevin Bacon should get an Emmy for this. Col. Strobl had volunteered to be an escort thinking that Chance was from his own town–but the family had moved to Wyoming–and he did it, anyway. When he insisted that the casket be opened to check the uniform (“perfect,” of course,) we saw the tightening of his jaw as he gazed on Chance’s head; without seeing what he saw, we knew that it was the only “imperfect” part of him.
I turned off the TV just before the funeral, but left the recorder on because I couldn’t see through my tears. Up to then, it was all going too well. We will see a grieving family and town, but I can’t help feeling that something awful will happen. Do Fred Phelps and his minions show up?
I’ll finish watching it when I’m stronger.