A Discovery Times Documentary Film
“Last year, filmmaker brothers Brent and Craig Renaud gave us the outstanding documentary Off to War. This year the Renauds have delivered a similarly powerful film.” –Media Village
In November 2006, more than 50 veterans of the U.S. armed forces from around the country came together to run for US Congress. Motivated by the wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, Since WWII, there had never been this many veterans running for national office at the same time. TAKING THE HILL tells the story of a group of veterans, most with no prior political experience or aspirations, who chose political action as a means to further answer the call of service to their country; and what its like once the reality of politics in America smacks head on into idealism.
Beginning in February 2006, when U.S. Army veteran Mike Lyon brought together the veteran candidates in Washington, D.C., in a loose coalition called the Band of Brothers 2006, the Renaud brothers followed the candidates of TAKING THE HILL as they traveled throughout their home states: Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Although most of the veterans considered themselves politically independent, or in some cases Republican during their active military careers, they came together to run as a coalition as Democrats.
Though each of the races was unique, what binded the candidates was their shared intense disagreement with the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war and their dismay with continued cuts to veterans’ programs back home. From Eric Massa, a retired Navy commander in rural New York State, to Rick Bolanos, a Purple Heart recipient in Vietnam, to Tammy Duckworth, an Army captain who lost both her legs when a grenade hit her helicopter in Iraq, this documentary follows the stories of these veterans as they head into their respective political battles.
Having spent much of their working lives in the military, the veterans featured in TAKING THE HILL have no personal wealth to fund their campaigns, nor do they have the political connections it takes to easily raise the vast amounts of money necessary to compete politically at the national level. Tammy Duckworth says that “all of us are underdogs,” running largely in conservative districts and often against entrenched Republican incumbents. Eric Massa calls himself a “no name, no money” candidate who, like the other Band of Brothers candidates, nevertheless believes he has what it takes to win.
TAKING THE HILL is about a group of outsiders fighting political battles and motivated by a desire to serve their country – not by going to war this time, but by going to Washington.
