Apart from INCEPTION and SCOTT PILGRIM, I’ve found the summer to be a big fast food smorgasboard of formulaic, pandering, and lowest common denominator movies.  So for the perfect antidote to trashy fiction that doesn’t provide any worthwhile escape (just junk food for the brain and soul), I suggest watching some good documentaries.

There’s a fantastic documentary in theatrical release called The Tillman Story directed by Amir Bar Lev (also directed, My Kid Could Paint That), which is a must see.  The film is about the former NFL football player – Pat Tillman, who turned down a $3.6 million dollar contract to serve as an army ranger in the second Gulf War.  ‘The Tillman Story’ also covers the family’s investigation into the multilevel government cover-up over Pat’s death. Despite initial accounts by the military that he died under attack by Taliban forces, he in fact died by friendly fire and gross negligence on the part of fellow rangers.  Though there are already a steady stream of strong critical reviews (see Kenneth Turan’s review in the LA Times), I figured I’d offer a few simple reasons for you to run out and see this doc.

1. The story about what happened on the day of his death and how the military found ways to cover it up is as gripping as any political thriller, if not more so because it’s so disturbingly real.

2.  For those of you who may have caught bits of this story when it broke news and have written Pat Tillman off as an All-American, jock turned warrior-soldier who bought into the war and died needlessly, this film will surprise you. The Tillman Story reveals a very different and more complex portrait of Tillman – he was against the war, read Noam Chomsky, was a self avowed atheist, and left strict orders to not have a military burial if he died. The idea of being memorialized as a propaganda tool in support of the war would have horrified him.

3. Some may dismiss this story as irrelevant and old news and, I admit I was skeptical about whether there was more to it.  And, there is.  It’s not just about Pat Tillman, his death, or Iraq – it’s about the ways in which the government can underestimate the average person, or in this case an average American family who were unwilling to just go along with the program and revel in the pageantry of their son’s memorial as a decorated war hero.  They decided to see this for what it was – a cover-up of an incident to sell the war and, embarked on a difficult journey to reveal the truth and fight back.

4. If you’re concerned about being depressed by a film that deals with the war or just, not sure you’re up for a sobering expose about a tragic death.  Or you feel too jaded to be taken on the journey of another, government cover-up, I understand.  But, let me assure you there is dark humor, fresh insight, and hope in this well-crafted documentary.  The Tillmans are not a boring, earnest, All-American family.  They are intelligent, provocative, highly principled and have an incredible sense of humor that has helped them survive this journey through the painstaking investigation into their son’s death.  They are the family next door – just are more liberal in the use of the f-bomb in their speech and bear a refreshingly tough, no bs perspective.

5. And finally, you won’t be bored by this documentary.  It’s not worth seeing simply because it’s “worthy” or “good for you” in the way that important movies are equivalent to oatmeal for breakfast.  It’s worth seeing because the truth here, is more disturbing, more complex, and more moving than fiction.