Toronto Film Festival Dailies

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Tuesday, September 11----------The sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon provided an auspicious landscape for the debut of the new Iraq documentary BODY OF WAR here at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film tells the stirring tale of Tomas Young, a wounded Iraq war veteran who has become a powerfully effective anti-war activist. The film is co-directed by Ellen Spiro (GREETINGS FROM OUT HERE) and former talk show personality Phil Donahue., with musician Eddie Vedder contributing a number of new songs for the passion project. The film, which is looking for a distribution deal here, seems to be perfectly timed for the rising anti-war sentiment now gripping large parts of the US population.

BODY OF WAR begins on September 13, 2001, when an idealistic Tomas Young was inspired to enlist in the U.S. military, moved by President Bush's speech at Ground Zero. Determined to battle against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Instead, he was sent to Iraq, where five days into his tour of duty he was nearly killed in an attack that left him paralyzed from the chest down. As he underwent years  of excruciating rehabilitation, Young has become an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and its reckless war policy that has resulted in the death of 4000 soldiers and the maiming of nearly 10,000 men and women in uniform.

BODY OF WAR follows in excruciating detail, Young's physical and emotional journey, as he adapts to his new body and begins to question the decision to go to war in Iraq. From soldier to anti-war activist, the film takes an unflinching view of the physical and emotional aftermath of war through the eyes of an American hero.

At the sold-out public screening today, the audience gave Young three standing ovations, amidst rapturous applause. After a Question and Answer session with Young and the co-directors, Eddie Vedder appeared on stage and sang two songs he composed especially for the film. He informed the audience that his record label, Sire Records, will release a collection of songs by Vedder and others that will support Young's continued rehabilitation and his anti-war crusade. For more informaiton on the film, visit the offical website: www.bodyofwar.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Toronto FF Dailies Editor