Taking Chance

Description

The made-for-HBO Taking Chance is based on
perhaps the single most moving artifact to come out of the Second Gulf War,
Lt. Col. Mike Strobl’s first-person narrative of his voluntary mission
escorting the body of a fellow Marine killed in Iraq. Strobl (played in the
film by Kevin Bacon) hadn’t known Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps but, noticing
they’d been born in the same western town, he requested temporary leave from
his duties as a manpower-deployment analyst at Quantico in order to accompany
the 20-year-old’s body home. Home, as it turned out, was no longer their
shared birthplace in Colorado but the high-country Wyoming town of Dubois. The
journey would take Strobl deep into the heart of his nation, and his own heart
as well. There’s no overstating the power and beauty of what he encountered:
one instance after another of not just military personnel but airline
employees, passengers, and bystanders doing honor–mostly wordlessly–to
Chance’s coffin and his escort as they passed by. First-time director Ross
Katz deserves credit for declining to inflate any of these moments or
underscore their meaning with grandiloquent speechifying, and Bacon–an actor
who couldn’t hit a false note if his life depended on it–is true to the
Desert Storm veteran’s self-discipline and emotional discretion. The picture’s
decency is unimpeachable, and Strobl’s story, transcending pro-war and anti-
war politics, is itself an act of healing. What’s missing is the seasoned hand
of a great director (Ang Lee, say) to invest it with the rhythm and movement
of a fully achieved feature film. Still, this is a journey you’ll feel
enriched by sharing. –Richard T. JamesonOn the DVD Several somewhat
overlapping short videos offer testimony to Chance Phelps’s fun-loving spirit,
heroic death, and spiritual legacy by his family, friends, and fellow Marines.
They’re good people. There’s also a brief deleted scene–actually, portion of
a scene–and some not particularly illuminating commentary on the making of
the film. –Richard T. Jameson

Features:

Product Details:

• Genre: Drama, Military & War
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Multiple Formats, Subtitled, NTSC, Closed-captioned
• Contributor: Michael Strobl, Kevin Bacon
• Language: English
• Number Of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.6 x 5.4 x 7.5 inches; 0.01 Ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ HBO1000041186DVD
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ AC-3, Color, Dolby, Multiple Formats, Subtitled, NTSC, Closed-captioned
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ May 12, 2009
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Kevin Bacon
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, Spanish, Portuguese, French