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Stop Loss is a film about an unpleasant U.S. military policy. Stop Loss permits involuntary extension of a soldier's enlistment contract, which means you could come home to the United States at the end of your tour of duty and discover that the army is sending you back. For more. And there's nothing you can do about it.
Films such as No End In Sight have made it clear that the United States does not have nearly enough soldiers in Iraq to accomplish anything useful, so the Stop Loss policy is used more often than most people realize. Those who oppose it see it as a type of sneaky conscription, or what has been called a 'backdoor draft.'
The beauty of the film Stop Loss is the setup. Filmmaker Kimberly Peirce takes a viewer right into the action in Iraq, side-by-side with the central characters, and then she lets you roam around in the small-town Texas lives these guys left behind. After 20 minutes, you're welded to the characters emotionally. Their loss is your loss.
The film opens with a handful of nervous American soldiers in Iraq. The men pursue a car that has blown through an army checkpoint without stopping; they creep through a civilian neighbourhood on foot, looking for the enemy. They are ambushed. Some are wounded. The action is told from their point of view -- the noise, the fear, the danger, the chaos -- and it's devastating. No sign of glory.
Later, when they get to go home to rural Texas, it becomes obvious that the men's worst injuries aren't physical. They are anxiety-ridden, incapable of expressing what they have seen and done, and prone to night terrors. They drink, they walk away from their relationships and worst of all, they are unable to switch off their combat skills. When the men get drunk and finally begin to talk about their hideous experiences in Iraq, the people at home are confused and deeply uncomfortable.
Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) is still regarded by the men as their leader, even when they return to civilian life. His best friend Steve (Channing Tatum) and Steve's girlfriend Michelle (Abbie Cornish) become the focus of the story. When some of the men are told to return to Iraq under the Stop Loss policy, Sgt. King refuses to go. He runs off, hoping a Senator will bend the law for him, but discovers on his way to Washington just how limited his options really are. With Michelle along for the ride, our hero discovers that he can go back to Iraq, live on the run in America until the military finds him or get a new identity and live in Canada or Mexico forever.
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Stop Loss is a film about tragedy -- individual and collective. Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) is familiar with the blue-collar people who populate her story and she neither patronizes nor glorifies them. Stop Loss is all about people who want to do the right thing but who are forced to discover the terrible gap between their ideals and reality.
The last act in the film is somewhat disappointing, perhaps because there is no satisfactory way to conclude the story. There's also too much acting going on, but Peirce makes her point.
The film will be considered controversial in America, not just because so many people don't know the policy exists, and not just because a character gets to shout, "F--- the President!" Stop Loss shows the aftermath of Iraq and how even the most ardent patriot can change his mind, given the truth. That's a dangerous bit of filmmaking.
(This film is rated 14-A)