Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro at the Hamptons International Film Festival Photo by Dan Goldberg

A film co-directed by Phil Donahue, could that be true? Indeed it is, and for someone as politically outspoken as the esteemed media personality — whose high-rated MSNBC show was mercilessly cancelled in 2003 because he presented a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war," according to a leaked company memo — his involvement in a bold, fair-minded documentary about the Iraq war makes sense. Co-directed and shot by Austin-based filmmaker Ellen Spiro (Are the Kids Alright?), Body of War raises necessary questions through an unflinchingly intimate portrait of Tomas Young, a paralyzed veteran who has become an anti-war activist since his return from Iraq. As Tomas's story of adaptation and advocacy unfolds, right down to heartbreaking moments like his mother manually emptying his bladder, the film intercuts flashback footage of the maddening Congressional proceedings when the war was first voted for. Shortlisted for an Oscar and named Best Documentary by the National Board of Review, Body of War will likely gain further exposure thanks to its soundtrack, featuring two new songs by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. I met Donahue and Spiro at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel during SXSW to discuss their passion project, creative clashes and the commercial pressures of making a political doc.

Before we get to the part where Phil Donahue becomes a filmmaker, let's start from the beginning. How was Body of War instigated?
PHIL DONAHUE: Actually, a friend of mine — [consumer rights activist and presidential candidate Ralph Nader] — was invited by a mother to come meet Tomas. He asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes. So I met Tomas Young, who's the subject of our film, at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center]. He was very loopy and really whacked out on morphine. As I stood next to his bed, his mother informed me of the gravity of his injuries. He's a T4 spinal, which means he is paralyzed from the nipples down. So here I am, looking at this 25-year-old young man, and I don't know if he'll ever walk again. I just thought that more people should see this. Here we are, three years later, at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and a lot has happened along the way. This has been quite an odyssey, for me and for everybody who's worked on this film.

I believe it. Why did film seem like the best medium to present Tomas's story?
PD: First of all, you'll never see this on the major networks. A big black hole has been left by corporate media. You may recall how difficult it was to dissent, to protest this war. Media didn't want you to because it was "unpatriotic." Also, featuring dissenters on mainstream media wasn't good for business. Why would you be criticizing our president when we're going to war? We sent thousands and thousands of young people to die on foreign battlefields to protect our way of life, at the center of which is free speech, and when we need it the most, we're told that we should shut up and sing. What's wrong with this picture? So along the way, we realized that it was the dissenters who were the patriots, the patriotic Americans. We believe in the Constitution. It was in this environment that I met Tomas, and I thought, this is so hidden. There are thousands of Tomases in this country, and Tomasinas, who are dealing with life-altering injuries; catastrophic injuries that turn the victim's and whole family's lives upside down.

Tomas Young visits Ground Zero

So we felt, you know, don't sanitize the war. Tell the truth. Show the pain. If you're going to send people to war, the media has a responsibility to let people know just how courageous and burdensome are the challenges that have been heaped upon families, still struggling to figure out who they are and where they're going to go. All around us in this nation we have veterans committing suicide. This is horrible. The sooner the American people realize the complicated and terribly painful lives that have come out of this war, the sooner they're going to — I think — maybe not be so quick [to react] the next time, and also to be aware of the sacrifice that has been offered by so many American families.