One of the real tough things for me was watching all those Senators stand up in Congress and march out talking point after talking point about why we should go to Iraq. Just chilling.
The person that jumped up out of the documentary and was a real star (other than the obvious veteran Thomas Young) was West Virginia Democratic Senator Robert Byrd. It is a touching scene when the elder Senator meets with Thomas in his office at the end of the documentary and they recount the list of 23 "Immortals" (as Byrd describes them) who voted against the war in the Senate.
LA Times Review of Body of War:
What's striking about the footage of the march up to war -- and who'd have thought you could ever call C-SPAN footage striking -- is the rushed, hollow, echoed tone the rhetoric takes and how quickly and inexorably the resolution to authorize the use of force in Iraq is passed despite the measured, impassioned objections of 23 people, including Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Donahue and Spiro methodically contrast the rushed and cursory decision with the lifelong consequences people like Young face, and slightly heavy-handed as it is, it couldn't make for a more damning before and after.Washington Post Review of Body of War:
Where "Body of War" goes right is in its passion and power and the way its various arteries eventually converge in a meeting at Byrd's office between the senator and Young. "The immortal 23" is how the elderly senator describes his colleagues who voted against the war. Byrd reads all the names, and they're listed, too, in the film's end credits, along with their compatriots in the House. Moviegoers should be so advised, in case they want to bring a pen and paper.
