Taking Chance

Very rarely do I see a movie that leaves me thinking about it for days after I watched it. At the recommendation of a co-worker about a month ago I put Taking Chance on our Netflix que. With Netflix we only get one movie at a time so we alternate between one of Daniel’s choices(usually a comedy such as “I Love You Man” or an action flick like “Transporter 3”). Very rarely does he watch my picks, which are usually chick flicks. When “Taking Chance” came in the mail he brushed it off as a chick flick and told me that I could watch it on my own time. I told him I thought he would like it and to give it a chance (no pun intended).

Here is the summary for “Taking Chance” from IMDB.com:

In April, 2004, casualties mount in Iraq. At Quantico, choices focus on increasing troop strength or only replacing casualties. Lt. Col. Mike Strobl crunches numbers. Stung by his superior's rejection of his recommendation because he lacks recent combat experience, Strobl volunteers for escort duty, accompanying the remains Pfc. Chance Phelps, killed at 19. From Dover to Philadelphia by hearse, from there to Minneapolis and on to Billings by plane, and then by car to Phelps' Wyoming home - person after person pays respects. Kind words, small gifts, and gratitude are given Strobl to deliver to the family on this soul-searching journey. What are his own discoveries?

Whether or not your support the war, you must see this movie. The journey that Kevin Bacon’s character, Lt. Col. Strobl goes through with the body of Chance Phelps is heart wrenching and respectable at the same time. In the movie, Chance's body is taken to Dover Air Force Base, home of the mortuary which processes military personnel killed in wartime and peacetime.

I live ten minutes from Dover Air Force Base, I can look at my office window at work and see the base. I always knew the morturay was located there, what I didn’t know was the ceremony that went on with these bodies, from leaving the sight of wherever the body was recovered via a C-5, coming off of the plane with the American Flag over the casket with air men at salute, the actual embalming of the body and cleaning of dog tags, watches, jewelry, etc. to leaving Dover AFB via casket and being taken to Philadelphia International Airport. They drive to the airport in a normal looking Chevy Suburban one that I have probably passed a thousand times on my way to northern DE or Philly via Rt. 1, actually checking the body on the plane, etc.

The movie is based on a true story. It was originally made for HBO films and then later went to DVD. Like I said before it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Kevin Bacon does an amazing job of portraying Lt.. Col. Strobl. Even Daniel who has only cried a handful of times since we have been together had tears rolling down his face at the end of the movie (I am tearing up thinking of it). Please, please rent it! Give it a chance. It is one of those movies that should be shown in every high school US History class, because every American should know the process that the bodies go through after being killed in the line of duty. After watching this movie, I once again was proud to be an American.