The Line

This is a must see eye opening documentary. I remember this case happening and being in the news 24/7 for a while. I had no idea of the depth of this story and the implications. Leaves you wondering about the "justice system" in this great country.

There are Documentaries and Docu-Series Biographies that deal with events that occur in everyday life that are so significant that only through the bravery of certain interveners their deeds, positive or negative, come "in the light of day". This week Apple TV released the mini-series "The Line (2021)" about the US Seals and the disastrous consequences that war can bring.

This is a great examination of the mental price of war, and what our American soldiers toil with mentally from the horror of combat. Although it uses the Gallagher case as the backdrop, it examines a much broader part of military experiences, especially for those on the front lines. I don't like how the filmmakers, at the end, slyly took a side/opinion. Otherwise this did a great job telling this particular story, and more importantly the overall issues at the heart of the matter. The one guy who was in "operations", in my opinion, was the only one who had a clear thought process about the whole situation. I have a real problem with training our people to defend us/go to war, and then bring them home to accuse/try them for crimes. Burden of proof better be beyond and mountainous.

This was clearly an opportunity to give the men who testified against Gallagher, the chance to speak freely and offer their stories. Eddie has been give the platform on Youtube with many retired Seals allowing him to give his side of the story. This however, does not address the full amount of prosecutorial misconduct that went on. It also gives the head prosecutor an opportunity to justify why he used the email tracking. Clearly the judge disagreed. It gives the former secretary of state his chance to justify his reasons for the way things went down. And at the end, they lay the bias out in plain sight (after letting it fester for 3 episodes). Not a lot of unbiased interviews included in this documentary but I found Gio's insights pretty damning to these other dudes.

This is a great documentary. I nearly stopped watching it halfway through episode three however I decided to stick it out. The reason I nearly pulled the plug was how disgusted I was at the course of events once Eddie Gallagher's social media/marketing savvy wife started a PR campaign which ultimately ended up with Trump involved and blindly supporting Gallagher and his actions. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that though - that's essentially how the Apprentice guy became president right? Only in America. Anyhoo, while Gallagher's story and his acquittal is public domain, this documentary gives depth to how that occurred - sadly the seal team members who had the moral courage to expose this did so at great personal expense ultimately. But we can all see they did the right thing and I hope they are sleeping well at night - they deserve to be.