Stop-Loss
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Movie Reviews of Stop-Loss
Movie Review: the "stop-loss" program and the effects it has on human beings
Summary: 4 Stars
Stop-Loss is a rather intense film that focuses on the military's "stop-loss" program--a practice that allows the military to re-deploy American troops back to combat duty in places like Iraq even when they have completely fulfilled their obligations by doing their complete tour of duty. The film's plot moves along well although a few minutes could have edited out to make the story a bit more gripping. The acting is extremely convincing; the choreography and cinematography enhance the movie quite a bit. The casting was excellent and the script well written, too. I should also mention that I really appreciate the input from soldiers and their families; because of them I know so much more about "stop-loss" than I otherwise would have if I had just watched this film. It's important to note that the filmmaker is neither truly anti-soldier nor cheering for a man who has gone AWOL, Kimberly Peirce is protesting the "stop-loss" program; and if you watch the movie from this perspective I think you will like it more.
When the action starts, we meet decorated Staff Sergeant Brian King (Ryan Phillippe) and some of his very good buddies including Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Sergeant Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) returning home from combat duty in Iraq. To one degree or another, they are all upset about the trauma they experienced during combat, seeing some of their best friends die and others like Private Rico Rodriguez (Victor Rasuk) terribly maimed for life, losing his sight and more than one limb. However, Brian is relieved and at least somewhat optimistic about his future because he's "gettin' out;" he wants to adjust to life as a civilian in his native Texas again--until, that is, he finds out from a bureaucratic cog in a wheel that he is being unexpectedly "stop-lossed:" he must now return to Iraq and serve even more time. While his buddy Steve doesn't see a problem with this (Steve has been sent back, too), Brian is very disgruntled; and his brief and unproductive meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Boot Miller (Timothy Olyphant) makes him so angry that Brian breaks free from the hold of two men, steals a jeep and flees the military base.
Of course, this makes for quite a crisis. Steve is very opposed to what Brian has done; not only has Brian stolen Steve's jeep, Steve honestly believes that they must serve in the military until they are no longer wanted for any purpose at all. This creates plenty of tension between Steve and Brian; and there's more tension, too, between Steve and his girlfriend Michelle (Abbie Cornish). Michelle wants to marry Steve; she's tired of him telling her it'll only be "one more year" before he leaves the military and they can get married. Things gets even more intense when Brian's parents Roy and Ida (Ciarán Hinds and Linda Emond) are determined to protect Brian; the last thing they want is for their son to risk his life all over again in combat for many months or even longer.
I could tell you so much more; but that would start to spoil it for you. Believe it or not, there's plenty more to the plot--I certainly haven't given it all away! Suffice it to say that Michelle tries to help Brian escape to safe ground while he's AWOL and not yet caught by police and military brass who are looking for Brian in just about every nook and cranny.
Stop-Loss is not a film for small children; there's a fair amount of violence and the filmmakers pull no punches when it comes to portraying the horrible effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nevertheless, this movie just might make you think even if you don't agree with the message of the film. These actors portray their characters as being truly human and that's terrific. I recommend this film for anyone who wants to explore the controversial "stop-loss" military program as well PTSD. Fans of the actors will want this movie for their collections; and people who like dramas that focus on social issues or military life will not be disappointed.
Movie Review: a brilliant expose of the "backdoor draft"
Summary: 4 Stars
****1/2
On the day he is to be honorably discharged from the service, decorated army Sergeant Brandon King is ordered to return to duty in Iraq, the latest victim of "stop-loss," a term for when soldiers who have fulfilled the terms of their military contract are denied permission to leave the service under penalty of court martial and imprisonment. Brandon, caught emotionally off-guard by the news, impulsively decides to go AWOL, leaving his fellow troops to head back to the Middle East without him. Brandon becomes a fugitive from justice, as much on the run from the memories that haunt him as from the authorities looking to bring him back.
A searing expose on the "backdoor draft," "Stop-Loss" is an extraordinarily powerful drama that shows how men and women who have bravely served their country on the field of battle (along with the loved ones they have left behind) are being betrayed by the very government they fought to defend. Yet, "Stop-Loss" is no star-turn polemic like "Lions for Lambs," but, rather, an intensely personal drama that illuminates its issue in starkly human terms. The grim realities of post-war trauma - both physical and psychological - are vividly dramatized in the persons of Brandon and his buddies, all of whom have returned to their small Texas town radically changed men. But the film is also about that special sense of camaraderie and group cohesion that develops among soldiers who have fought side by side under hellish circumstances - and the lifelong bond that results.
Despite the wide-ranging nature of the theme, writer/director Kimberley ("Boys Don't Cry") Peirce and co-writer Mark Richard keep the drama modest in scope and intimate in scale. It's true that there are times when the screenplay threatens to fall victim to its own contrivance, but the quality of performance and authenticity of detail always bring the movie back into line.
Long a fine but under-appreciated actor, Ryan Philippe truly comes into his own in this film, delivering a performance of such raw truth and emotional complexity that we literally cannot take our eyes off him for the duration of the movie. Ditto for Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Victor Rasuk, all equally superb as men who served alongside Brandon in Iraq and who now have their own personal, war-related demons to wage battle against. Abbie Cornish is also excellent as the friend who accompanies Brandon on his panic-stricken flight across the country.
There are those who will object to "Stop-Loss" on strictly political grounds, seeing it as yet another anti-war diatribe designed to make the Bush administration look bad. Yet, the film transcends politics, honoring the bravery and valor of the soldiers while reserving the right to question the wisdom and morality of those in power who would send these fine young men on such a fool's errand in the first place - and then insist on doing it over and over again. I frankly can't imagine anything more pro-American or pro-troop than that.
Movie Review: Boys Do Cry
Summary: 4 Stars
Kimberly Pierce's last movie was "Boys Don't Cry," starring Hilary Swank who gave a critically acclaimed performance. Now eight years later Pierce directs "Stop-Loss, the term used to describe the military's sending soldiers back to battle when they have just finished one combat tour of duty. I am not sure what I was expecting but I got more than I bargained for as apparently did the other members of the audience from both my and their reactions. They ranged from audible sobs that began almost immediately after the film began, to groans to one man's comment sitting near me of "damn this country." Although I have never seen "Saving Private Ryan" but know of the first 20 minutes or so of the violent depiction of battle in that film, I cannot fathom, however, that it is rawer and bloodier than the first few minutes of "Stop-Loss." The violence and bloodshed are relentless, and the battle scenes are shot as if they were done by an amateur with a hand-held video camera.
The acting is impeccable; the cinematography --by Chris Menges-- is extraordinary. The film essentially belongs to Ryan Phillipe who plays Sgt. Brandon King-- although there are no bad performances--, recently having returned to his hometown in Texas after completing a tour of duty in Iraq where he lost several of his men. On the day that he is to have been discharged, he learns that he has been reassigned to Iraq. Rather than return to combat, he goes AWOL and does a cross-country drive to Washington with his friend Michelle played by Abbie Cornish in another first-class performance. They in their naivete initially believe that their senator will be able to help them.
I am not sure what the director wanted to achieve. Supposedly she made the movie out of anger over her brother's experience as a soldier in Iraq. If she wanted to show the horror of war, she more than accomplished her mission. The violence and the heartwrenching fate of the soldiers, both in and after combat, begin in the first frames of the film and never abate. The nadir of this movie-- although several events come close-- occurs when King, on his way to D. C., visits his forever-maimed buddy in a hospital. The soldier's optimism-- is he whistling in the dark-- in such overwhelming adversity-- will tear your heart out.
Upon leaving the theatre, I wondered if this film would have any effect on anyone. The hawks and doves probably will not change their positions on the Iraq War. On the other hand, conventional wisdom says that sometimes art does make a difference. The novel UNCLE TOM'S CABIN we are told influenced how people felt about slavery. And recently much was made by the media as to whether "Saturday Night Live's depiction of Hillary Clinton's unfair treatment by the media with a capital "M" would in any way have an impact on voters.
If nothing else, this film stands for the proposition that indeed boys-- even grown men-- do cry, as evidenced both by the men in "Stop-Loss" and the men in the audience.
Movie Review: An involuntary extension of military service
Summary: 4 Stars
Stop-Loss is defined by Wikipedia as "the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date" (please read the complete article).
"Stop-Loss" is a movie, not so much about war, as it is about survival once our soldiers are home. How to cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? The film shows several examples. When astronauts are returned home, they are decompressed concerning their experiences. When prisoners of war are returned home, they, too, are decompressed, but soldiers from battle on leave? In this film, their commander advises them "not to have sex with anyone underage or hit their wives or children."
This is the story of Team Leader Brandon King (strongly played by Ryan Phillipe), a native of Brazos, Texas, who shortly after a failed firefight and unnecessary loss of men, returns home on leave, along with the other men in his company, to see several of his men become unglued.
When he tries to "out-process" himself and his military gear from active duty, he learns at the 24th hour that he has been Stop-Lossed, or his active duty time involuntarily extended for another tour of duty in Iraq. Why? Because men like him (with experience) are needed in a non-draft military. In contested cases the Army always wins because of contract loopholes in time of war. In other words, a "back-draft" is activated, placing experienced veterans "back" in a war environment.
The second half of the movie concerns King's reaction and actions toward what he finds as a grossly unfair Stop-Loss command. The path he takes or doesn't take is not so much the question as the question is: How fair is it for the government to assume control of a soldier about to be released from active duty, then use him for its own needs, and, as officials deem it, a necessity in time of war.
King sees a major option open to him: Go to Washington to see his local, supportive senator to find a way out of his situation. Other options: Leave the country as a deserter with new identity, knowing he can never go home again, or return to the service and Iraq and clear his name.
The paths King takes and choices he makes are heartbreaking and devastating. But I also found Stop-Loss morally reprehensible as military action that is both legal and binding without consideration for the individual soldier. In time of war the military has the presumptive right over the individual, but this is a war that President Bush legally declared ended.
In the final analysis, in a Stop-Loss action, the soldier must relinquish his individual rights, whether through desertion or in submission to duty. "Stop-Loss" becomes almost a documentary of Sgt. King's path through the quagmire of Stop-Loss.
Movie Review: Uncle Sam's welcome home
Summary: 4 Stars
"Stop-loss" is a term coined by the government for a particularly cruel practice, namely the arbitrary rescinding of a soldier's exit from the war theater. Supposedly only employable in times of war, it has been used during the Iraq-Afghani conflict to maintain strong numbers of troops in high-risk areas. The soldier, apparently, has no warning of the fact that he is stop-lossed until processing his papers to get out and go home. This, at least, is what happens to the protagonist in this movie.
The film does not dwell on the battles in Iraq, although it begins there, introducing us to a bunch of good-old-boy young men from the same small town in Texas, who have been together for a long time in Iraq and are used to thinking as a unit and looking out for each other. It shows them during the excruciating boredom of down-time, and then leads us through a terrible encounter in the crowded, narrow streets of a town in Iraq, skirmishing with snipers and terrorists, and leaves nothing to the imagination about the cruelties of war.
Shortly thereafter, it shows the boys coming home, for what they think is for good. Ryan Phillippe, in a strong performance as the sergeant of the unit, is broadsided by the news that he is being almost immediately shipped back to Iraq, and he understandably protests vehemently. His superior, considering him a flight risk by his demeanour, orders him escorted to the stockade, and in a chance moment of opportunity while being marched to transport, he disables his guards and escapes.
His plan after his escape is to take the unfairness and seeming illegality of his enforced reenlistment straight to some politician who can effect change, but one feels from the start that it is a bit like the mouse that roared; government is government, and is impervious to chiding from a nonentity like an inconvenienced soldier. His efforts are altruistic; he is not trying to bring justice just for himself, but for all the soldiers who come home expecting to get married, take a job as a car salesman, and try to forget the horrors of war. It's plain, however, that he is up against an immovable force.
There have been some strong, well-acted, and well-presented films of late on the Iraq conflict and/or its effect on the young people who go there believing, no doubt, that they can make a difference. Certainly some difference is made, but the toll it takes on the psyches of those in conflict is dire and sad. I grew up during the Viet Nam War, and do not profess to know the extent of damage that conflict made on those involved - heavy, I know - but war is war, and no one involved emerges unscathed, I am sure. It is made clear in Stop-Loss that idealism is quickly stripped away, and despair becomes endemic.
Strongly acted by all participants, and Ryan Phillippe in particular deserves kudos.