Taking Chance is the powerful film adaptation of Lieutenant Colonel Mike Strobl's journal of escorting the body of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps. It speaks volumes of the deeply personal side of war.
The Story
In April of 2004, Lt. Col Mike Strobl, USMC, comes across the name of fallen nineteen-year-old Lance Corporal Chance Phelps, killed by hostile fire in Anbar Province, Iraq. He volunteers to escort Chance's remains to the boy's home in Dubois, Wisconsin.
What follows is Lt. Col Strobl's journey with Lance Corporal Phelps, the people and incidents he encounters along the way.
Kevin Bacon In One Of The Best Performances of His Career
It is hard to believe this is the same Kevin Bacon who played the rebellious teen-ager in Footloose, but it is. Years of acting experience gives Bacon the gravitas he needs to give the film the quiet strength it commands. With exceptional body language, the expressiveness of his eyes and face, and very little dialogue, Bacon turns in a tour-de-force performance.
Bacon portrays Lt. Col Strobl's home as a fairly happy, stable and uneventful one. His wife becomes concerned that he volunteers for the escort, the type of worry that comes with the territory of being married to a man in the service.
As Lt. Col Strobl, Bacon squares off with a belligerent security airline attendant , played with perfect pitch by white rapper, Danny Hoch, with dignity. Thankfully, this is the lone, negative incident portrayed in the film.
As he experiences many other profound encounters with flight staff and civilians along the way, Bacon says volumes with saying very little.
A particulary moving scene is one where Bacon nears the last leg of his journey with Chance. Chance is in the hearse that is bringing him home, and Lt Col Strobl is in his rented car, following him in a five hour drive to the funeral home. A huge truck sees them and turns on his lights in respect. What follows in this deeply touching highway scene are actions of other fellow Americans in their cars, alongside Lt. Col Stroble and Chance, tacitly understanding Chance's sacrifice.
The Movie's Politics
There are none. The film depicts simply what is; the joy, the sadness, the grief, the loss, the giving and sacrifice of people in the face of the hard reality of a young man's passing all too soon.
Taking Chance:
Ross Katz, Director
Ross Katz, Michael Strobl, Writers
Kevin Bacon as Lieutenant Colonel Mike Strobl
For more information on Kevin Bacon,
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000102/
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