•
Rating: Perhaps it was on a rainy day like today. In Seattle, John Krakauer, amid a yawn and a stretch, flips through his favorite newspaper, a Democratic sympathizer, with his beautiful cup of steaming murky water while rubbing his slightly unkempt beard. He stumbles upon a sharp cartoon depicting, with a rough sketch, a football player enlisting in the army. The artist's angle is obvious: he wants to highlight the fact that this is a dimwit looking to kill a good number of dirty Arab bastards. It must not have pleased our author, this generalization by his favorite newspaper. Perhaps he wrote to refute that cartoon. To condemn the way the media and the government exploited the death of a famous 26-year-old. Without compromise, they exploited it in an extreme way: from a national hero for the Republicans to a perfect prototype of the ignorant, muscle-bound fool by the Democrats.
As in “Into The Wild,” John takes a recent real story that caused a stir and with archaeological and meticulous care, digs to understand the motivations that can explain the unfolding of events up to the tragic ending that is immediately revealed to us. The short life of Pat Tillman sparked debate because few others in his situation would have made his choices; what Krakauer wants to emphasize is that such actions were weighed and not a product of ignorance. Through a thorough analysis composed of excerpts from diaries, testimonies, and military/judicial/sports reconstructions in a slowly deepening and increasingly intimate crescendo, we meet a passionate, talented, sharp, determined, moody, sometimes irritable, often touchy, and solitary young man. Atypical. Because despite being an attractive and famous football player, he had only one love story in his life. He refused a million-dollar contract to remain loyal to his team (the modest Cardinals). During the summer, instead of living the high life like most of his colleagues, he used to retreat with his family and train for grueling endurance races: a real challenge for a massive physique like his. He led a modest lifestyle without SUVs and luxury and, surprisingly for an NFL professional, always carried a book with him and was hungry for history and knowledge.
But this work is not just about Pat Tillman's life and the reconstruction of his ambiguous death. It is an excuse to talk about something else. About the war in Iraq first and foremost: one strongly desired after the 2001 attack by citing false threats of chemical arsenals. The novel does not spare severe criticism of the Bush Jr administration, defined at best as contradictory and confused, at worst as biased and fully aware. A war, that of 2003, defined as a political palliative, driven by economic interests waged at the wrong times against the wrong state with a presumptuous superhero attitude. A war slowly morphed into a quagmire, reminiscent of what the Soviets encountered in the early '80s.
The author retraces between time jumps the recent history of the Middle East and the subsequent birth of the Taliban movement. Blamed is the increasing disinterest of the Clinton administration after the end of the Cold War: falsely convinced they were at the dawn of a unilateral era, and without adversaries, they underestimated the evolution of the Middle Eastern area.
The USA, after quickly "conquering" Baghdad, faced a rapid decline in support, exacerbated by a growing front of internal doubts due to the prolonged presence, the increase in militias used, and the deaths on the ground not correlated to a progressive control of the area. It is in this context of political crisis that the Tillman affair must be contextualized. In this situation, knowing how to control and filter news, to divert attention, becomes even more of a vile art than in the past. A football champion who gives up a $12.6 million contract spread over 4 years to volunteer as a combatant embodies for the crisis-ridden administration the honey pot for the hungry bear. Tillman unwillingly became (as he never wanted to be interviewed or exploit his army superstar status) the American hero; a story to exploit with which to bombard the public opinion to divert attention from military failures and questionable political choices. His death then was exalted, with a merit medal; the investigation into the mysterious circumstances of friendly fire, almost buried.
Tillman was not a hero and I don't think it's a coincidence that the word "hero" is missing from the original title, miraculously appearing in the Italian translation. His was a life deeply selfish and thus open to criticism as well. He knew what he was getting into, he was not a racist and had strong, very strong doubts about the effectiveness and appropriateness of the military action he was undertaking for his country; he detested the hierarchical methods of the army, he defined many of his comrades in arms to himself as adolescents eager to shoot and was aware of the pain he would cause, by going to war, to his family and wife. The diary is full of such intelligent and profound reflections. Nevertheless, for personal challenge, he wanted to have this experience. To feel alive. Like those crazy cliff dives he was used to undertaking alone: not for the applause of others, but for personal well-being.
Krakauer does not pass judgments, although the author's angle is strongly felt. It remains a rewarding, stimulating, and multilayered read that, as it is told, with successful changes of setting, topics, and tight rhythms, once again appears particularly suitable for a substantial film adaptation.
ilfreddo
Loading comments slowly
