Body of War.

"Drenched in emotion and suffused with good intentions, Body of War is impossible not to like, but difficult to admire," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "Produced and directed by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue (yes, that Phil Donahue), the movie uses the wrenching story of one American soldier to mount an angry if unfocused jeremiad against the war in Iraq."

"Body of War is neither the most cinematic nor the most elegantly crafted of recent Iraq War documentaries, but that doesn't stop it from being one of the most deeply affecting," writes Scott Foundas in the Voice.

Updated through 4/11.

"Body of War is a gut-wrenching documentary experience, though like any effective polemic, it is almost as canny as it is facile in construction," writes Ed Gonzalez in Slant. "This humane project probably bites off more than it's able to fully chew in 87 minutes, but it chews well enough: In addition to documenting Thomas's injuries and how their extent was acerbated by military negligence, it catches startling glimpses of people within his family caught in ideological tug of wars that miraculously don't get in the way of their love for one another."

"It's a stirring story that speaks for itself politically and otherwise, which is why Donahue and Spiro's decision to interlace it with CSPAN footage of Congress's vote to give Bush the authority to invade Iraq is so unnecessary and ill-fitting," suggests Michael Joshua Rowin in the L Magazine.

Online listening tip. Donahue's a guest on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Earlier: Aaron Hillis talks with Donahue for Premiere and Stephen Saito talks with Donahue and Spiro for the IFC.

Update, 4/10: "Why can't documentary filmmakers comprehend the concept of less is more?" asks Raphaela Weissman in the New York Press. "In Body of War, directors Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue suffocate one soldier's moving story with a musty political history lesson."

Updates, 4/11: "What makes Body of War such a powerful documentary isn't the clever rhetorical device of debate vs reality - which, frankly, loses some of its impact after a while - but the way it documents American life in the '00s," argues Noel Murray at the AV Club.

IndieWIRE interviews Spiro.

Posted by dwhudson at April 9, 2008 12:21 PM