TAKING CHANCE--USMCWIFE8999'S TAKE

Taking Chance is an HBO Movie based upon the experiences of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon) escorting the body of a Marine, PFC Chance Phelps. Lt. Col Strobl wrote an “after action” report on his entire journey and the film takes this report, and puts it on the screen so beautifully you feel as if you are on the journey with the Lt. Col and his charge PFC Phelps (Lcpl Phelps as he was promoted posthumously.)
I was hesitant to watch this movie, being the daughter of a fallen Marine and the wife of a Marine. I really didn’t know what to expect, I am always very hesitant to watch these types of movies obviously (that is why this blog was created) but decided to go ahead since Kevin Bacon playing a Marine is always reason enough for me to watch (Few Good Men, Frost Nixon..ya I could go on).
This movie is a straight forward account of a fallen Marine and the journey he takes from the war zone in which he fell (Iraq) until he is delivered into the hands of his family. The meat of the movie is all the people this Marine touches along the way. From the frustrated Lt. Col who is looking for his purpose while sitting at a desk in D.C. to the passengers on the plane and every other soul that only glimpses at the Marines flag draped coffin.
What I took away from the movie wasn’t so much as how this movie touched people, being a military wife I am not immune to this scene, I know how much it means and the honor that goes with it. I was comforted in actually “seeing” the process. Knowing that my friends, my father or any fallen service member would receive this honor made me proud.
What I hope the civilian population takes from this movie is seeing the men and women under the flag, how desperately they are loved. How they are not a statistic or a crawl on the evening news. They are sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers. I hope it makes them want to start to search the internet to read about some of our fallen, to say their names, to talk about them. Not just Chance but all of the others who made this same journey.
I couldn’t watch the movie again, I am sorry my review doesn’t include a lot of little details about it; it is just too much to watch more than once. I wouldn’t recommend watching this movie alone, and not when your loved one is in theater. But do watch it, I couldn’t think of another movie I would recommend as enthusiastically as this one.
If you would like to know more about Lcpl. Chance Phelps you can find it here. http://www.chancephelps.org/lance-corporal-chance-phelps/