Patrick Tillman was a successful NFL linebacker, until, in 2002, he dropped his football career and enlisted in the US Army Rangers. Tillman was later killed while deployed in Afghanistan, and his death created a media bonanza--one that grew even more rampant as it came to light that Tillman wasn't killed in an ambush, as the Army originally claimed, but was instead shot by friendly fire. The Tillman Story tracks the lives of Tillman's family as they deal with the gut-wrenching ramifications of his death; while director Amir Bar-Lev's somewhat biased perspective can be distracting at times, it hardly overpowers the important questions this resonant film grapples with. by Noah Dunham