A far cry from the sweeping oratories of Martin Sheen’s portrayal of General Robert E Lee in the film Gettysburg, Staff Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Philippe) brings the gritty profanities of a soldier’s experiences in Iraq to American living rooms in Stop-Loss.
“I ain’t scared, I’m pissed off!!”
The film opens with a small group of soldiers in camp in the desert—Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is playing guitar and another is making videos of their experiences. Tommy leads the group in a rendition of Toby Keith’s country waranthem “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” with each soldier displaying the typical show of enthusiasm and bravado to which the American public is accustomed. This restful period is brief, leading into the group manning a checkpoint outside an Iraqi city. Ambushed by a small car full of heavily-armed Iraqis, the troops are led on a chase into the city streets and down a side alley, where a heated battle ensues. Several in the group are wounded and one is killed as they struggle to defend themselves. A touching montage honoring these soldiers, compiled by their fellow troops, provides a moment of reflection before the men return to Texas.
Back in Brazzos, the viewer quickly comes to understand that every soldier has become a casualty of war in some form: nightmares, disrupted relationships,alcohol abuse and physical violence prevent their immediate assimilation back into civilian life. Michele (played by Abbie Cornish) is introduced, a young woman who is close friends with Brandon and engaged to Steve (Channing Tatum). After a decoration ceremony for his service to the country, Brandon expects to end his military career. Instead, he is told that he has been stop-lossed: he’s required to report back to duty in order to resume his tenure in Iraq. Brandon addresses this with a superior officer, but upon his blatant “F** the President,” he is ordered to the stockade until his scheduled departure. After his escape, the film alternately depicts Brandon and Michele’s desperate trip to Washington, D.C. in hopes of obtaining help from a Texas senator, and also shows how the other men in Brandon’s group are struggling to cope withwhat they’ve seen and done overseas. Hints of questioning the underlying reasons for being Iraq are only hinted: the main focus is the “back-door draft” that further traumatizes the young men and women who have already given their all.
Each of the actors portrays his/her character with a depth of emotion and sensitivity uncommon in a generation unaccustomed to the depiction of the human psyche within the warrior-hero character. Here Phillipe, Tatum, and Gordon-Levitt give stirring portrayals of choosing between personal life and duty, issues associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, and determining whether to follow personal conviction or public calling to service. Philippe’s character visits a family of a fallen comrade, as well as a veteran’s hospital, bringing every aspect of the aftermath of the current war to the screen. Joseph Gordon-Levitt particularly shines as a young man struggling to be strong in the midst of a downward spiral with his wife, alcohol abuse, and subsequent discharge from the military, giving a stirring portrayal of the immense pain existing behind a smiling façade.
This dynamic cast brings to life the hardships of the 81,000+ troops that have been stop-lossed in the current war. Stop-Loss is a film that trades much of the graphic imagery usually depicted in modern war movies for the horrific mental torture that warfare creates within each soldier. While not the blazing adventure story that has dominated the box office this summer, this movie will strike a much deeper chord within the audience, bringing the major questions of our military policy to the fore. With 650,000 soldiers having served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, these are issues we can’t afford to ignore.
Features included on this disk:
-Commentary with Director Kimberly Peirce and Co-Writer Mark Richard
-The Making of Stop-Loss
-A Day in Boot Camp
-Deleted Scenes
-Previews
The making-of segment is a must: director Kimberly Peirce presents herinterest in the film as a New Yorker who experienced the September 11th attacks firsthand, and whose brother subsequently enlisted in the military. Utilizing real amateur video made by the troops overseas, she seeks to create that same quality of fast-paced, somewhat shaky footage in the film’s shooting. The result is a more accurate account of not only what is seen and experienced, but of how the real soldiers have attempted to immortalize their deployments.