HBO is 'Taking Chance'

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — HBO's "Taking Chance" isn't easy to describe.

At it's most simple, it's a fact-based telefilm about a Marine Corps officer who accompanies the body of a young Marine killed in Iraq to their mutual hometown in Wyoming. But it's so much more than that — a heart-rending, heartwarming journey that demonstrates the best of America.

"It's not an Iraq war movie per se," said director/co-writer Ross Katz. "It's a very personal story."

It's the very personal story of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon), who, in 2004, volunteered to accompany the body of 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to Dubois, Wyo. Strobl kept a journal of that journey. He shared that with some of his friends, who shared it with other Marines — and it became the basis of the HBO film that premieres Saturday at 9 p.m.

Strobl said he began jotting things down when he saw a group of construction workers at the Dover mortuary.

"The two days I was at Dover, I think they had about a dozen departures of remains. And every time the remains would leave, these construction workers would stop their work, put their hard hats over their heart, and stand at their version of attention," he said. "And seeing that, I realized I want to remember this because there's really some goodness there."

He had a series of encounters with a hearse driver, flight attendants, baggage handlers, cargo people, "all of these people who you can presume covered the spectrum of political views. They all had this profound sense of gratitude and sorrow at Chance's loss.

"By the time I put it all together, I just thought if these people can react this way — people who didn't know Chance, didn't know the circumstances of his death, all they knew was he was a Marine who died in combat — they represented, to me, all that's good about America."

"Taking Chance" is not in any way a political statement — it's neither pro-war nor anti-war.

But it does come at a time when President Obama is evaluating the Bush administration policy that forbids press coverage of the flag-draped coffins of fallen service men and women returning to the United States.

Bacon said he believes the film puts a face on the statistics of how many Americans have been killed in Iraq.