Independent Lens: Make Peace or Die

In the mid to late 2000s, there were scores of documentaries about PTSD. Today, when they are not so politically useful to the anti-war cause, there have almost completely disappeared. Anthony Marquez noticed a similar phenomenon with Gold Star families. They received an initial outpouring of support, but after a year or so, people largely forgot them. That is why Marquez decided to personally check-in with the families of all 17 fellow Marines of his unit who died in Sangin, Afghanistan. Filmmaker Manny Marquez follows his brother’s cathartic journey in Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen, which airs this Monday on PBS, as part of the current season of Independent Lens.

Sangin will be remembered as one of the deadliest destinations ever for the Marine Corps. Not surprisingly, his experiences there haunted Marquez years after the fact. As part of his self-proscribed therapy, he hand-crafted (or chainsaw-crafted) memorial statues for each Gold Star family, which he hand-delivered. Realizing how quickly the community support evaporates for Gold Star families, Marquez resolved to revisit the same families one year later (this time with his brother following him).

Most were incredibly welcoming, even though his visits inevitably rekindled the pain of their loss. He hardly knew some of their sons, but he could still relate through their shared experiences. At times, he even questions his mission, but eventually doubles down, inviting the families to a special commemoration ceremony at Camp Pendleton. Along the way, he assembles a special dress uniform, consisting of garments and medals contributed by the seventeen families.

There are several deeply emotional moments in Make Peace or Die (the title refers to Corps 1^st Battalion, 5^th Marines’ motto—as in make peace with us, or else). However, the sequence that will absolutely destroy viewers documents the final hours of Marquez’s military service dog, who even had a Marine honor guard for the fateful last trip to the vet’s office. No matter how tough you think you are, you are going to be choked up.

This is a powerful film that should have had much more attention on the festival circuit. Obviously, Marquez approached his subjects with the best of intentions. After all, his parents appear in the documentary, as well as his brother. Of course, nobody wants to question the motives of some the docs that came out so regularly during the George W. Bush administration, but isn’t it so strange how they just aren’t being produced anymore (with the exception of this film)?

BWIFF ’11: Goldstar, Ohio

Ohio is a state ruled by football, high school, college and professional, largely in that order. For the most part, they are people of faith, who support the troops and their neighbors. That sense of community also entails a shared sense of loss when several members of reserve unit based in small town outside of Cleveland suffers heavy casualties one awful day. The experience of witnessing and receiving news no relative wants to hear from uniformed officers is captured in the monologues of Michael Tisdale’s short film Goldstar, Ohio, an alumnus of the G.I. Film Festival, which screens at the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival in Illinois this Saturday.

In accordance with procedure, when two Marines arrive to make death notifications, they first stop at the office of Police Chief Jeff “Goob” Garver for an escort. This is now required for their protection, after several surviving family members have physically lashed out at similar messengers. They would not divulge the names involved, only their destination addresses. Of course, in a relatively tight knit community, it was not difficult to figure what was happening and who was affected.

Goldstar carefully avoids addressing any of the political issues surrounding the Iraq War (or Afghanistan for that matter). However, it indirectly refutes Oren Moverman’s defamatory The Messenger. Marines assigned to bereavement duty are always the most disciplined of the Corps, rather than the drunken basket-cases like Woody Harrelson’s character. Yet, the military never appear directly in Goldstar.

Drawn word-for-word from interviews conducted by Tisdale, Goldstar is about sudden grief and acute empathy. As wrenching as the family’ stories are, Garver’s monologue is perhaps more moving, because it reflects feelings that are truly humane. It also helps that Tony award winner Bill Irwin portrays Garver with finely wrought sensitivity and intensity, while also perfectly capturing the halting cadences of an interviewee. Indeed, Goldstar has a rather big name cast for a short film, including another Tony winner, Mercedes Ruehl, who is brings devastating gravitas as grieving mother Adriana Rock.

Despite the monologue format inherited from the film’s stage roots, Goldstar is very cinematic thanks to the rich warm look of cinematographer Mark Schwartzbard’s lens and NICKCASEY’s surprisingly effective incidental score. It is definitely worth seeing regardless of one’s opinions on the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya. It screens this Saturday (7/23) at the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival in Palatine, Illinois.