The documentary film
"Unknown Soldier" is currently in rotation on HBO and is well-worth seeing.
"On June 30, 1969, Lieutenant Jack Hulme of the U.S. Marine Corps was killed in Vietnam, just days before he was to leave the country and see his newborn son for the first time. Thirty years later, John Hulme - the son Jack never met - decided to uncover the truth about the father he never knew."
From John Hulme's director's statement:
"My father was killed in Vietnam when I was three weeks old. I never met him, and I grew up feeling nothing for him. To me, he was just a face in a photograph or a name upon a wall. And when friends or family members tried to tell me stories about him, I made it perfectly clear that I didn't want to hear what they had to say. Because as far as I was concerned, it wasn't like I lost a father, I just never had one to begin with.
More below the fold...
"All that started to change when I met my wife. On one of our first dates together, she began to pepper me with questions about my father's life and death. She wanted to know simple things, like where had my parents gotten married, and was it a problem that he was Catholic and she a Jew? The more she asked, the angrier I felt, and not just because I didn't know the answers. I was angry because I didn't want her to think I had "father issues," or that I hadn't come to terms with his death. And that was the moment it hit me...
"I had father issues, and I hadn't come to terms with his death.
"I chose to make a film about my quest to get to know him because I was scared of what I might learn, especially about how he'd been killed. I thought if I could turn the experience into something larger than itself, it might give me the courage to make those first few phone calls. And once that conversation began, it quickly became impossible to stop."
Steering clear of any overt political message, and focusing on the personal details and common humanity of Jack Hulme and his extended family and friends, the film explores the connection between individuality and the great mass of humanity--indeed the boiling undercurrent of the life force that exists in all things.
The film resonates with urgency, given our current involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and the administration's threats to carry war to other points on the globe. We all need to think hard about what it means to send our young men overseas to fight and give their lives and health.
This is also a film to watch with friends and relations who still support the war or aren't sure what to think. This isn't about making a political point, it's just about the human cost of war. It's what the news no longer shows us.
The film is a vessel of truth and understanding that no matter how cheap we make life, it remains sacred.
"Unknown Soldier" began airing on Memorial Day, and will continue through July 1 on the various HBO channels. You can check the schedule here.
To maintain some transparency here, let me say John Hulme is a friend of mine, but he has no idea that I'm plugging his film. Even with that caveat discounting my opinion, it's a good film. But don't take my word for it, watch it yourself. If you don't like it, let me know; any discussion of the issues raised by this film will be worthwhile.