'Taking Chance' is worth your time

We are bombarded with so much "big TV" every day that it is surprising and refreshing to watch television that sets out to be intimate and succeeds beautifully.

HBO's Taking Chance will break your heart with its simplicity. Kevin Bacon stars as Marine Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a Desert Storm veteran who volunteers to escort the remains of a young Marine killed in Iraq as he is returned to his family for burial. Strobl's story, and that of the young Marine, Chance Phelps, is true. Taking Chance recounts their solemn journey from the military morgue at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to Phelps' funeral in Dubois, Wyo.

If presented as pure documentary, the story of Phelps' final homecoming would no doubt have been enthralling to watch. A big, strapping kid from the middle of America, Phelps volunteered for the Marines after 9/11 and died in a gun battle in 2004 at the age of 19. But it is the reverent and respectful depiction of how America's fallen heroes are honored after death that makes this HBO movie so riveting.

We learn how much attention is paid to the uniform Phelps will be buried in, even though his family has chosen not to view his body. We see the ritual associated with virtually every movement of the shipping container bearing Phelps' remains --- the slow-moving salute by those in uniform and the silent bowed heads of civilians who cross its path. There are grand moments -- an impromptu funeral cortege rounding a hillside -- and tiny ones, such as when Strobl beds down on the floor of an aircraft hangar to keep watch over his silent charge.

Kevin Bacon is letter-perfect as Strobl, wearing the Marine service uniform with the assurance of a career officer. Bacon's resume is lengthy, but you'll find no better performance on it. His Strobl is a man of few words, his character visible in every gesture and facial expression.

Amid all of the hyper-political rhetoric that surrounds this country's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, this soft-spoken, apolitical story of how we treat those who literally give their lives for the rest of us deserves to be seen. Taking Chance will air multiple times in March on HBO and on HBO On Demand.

-- Rebecca Baldwin

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon