Stop-Loss (2007)-Andrea Silvers
May 5, 2008
Stop-Loss (2007)
By Andrea Silvers
If the war in Iraq has taught us anything, it’s that the American public does not want to watch movies about the war in Iraq. It hasn’t seemed to matter if it’s a small well-crafted story personalizing the war like The Valley of Elah or a big budget thriller with lots of Hollywood stars attached like The Kingdom, people just aren’t coming out to see them. That however, hasn’t stopped writer/director Kimberly Peirce, who previously brought us Boys Don’t Cry, from trying her hand at the doomed topic.
Her vision follows a group of soldiers led by Ryan Phillipe’s Sergeant Brandon King. Brandon is a tried and true soldier from Texas, as noted almost to the point of absurdity by Phillipe’s over the top accent, who signed up during the war to fight for his country and honor his military roots. But the war hasn’t treated him or the men he’s leading very kindly. In his last days overseas before being shipped home he leads his group into what quickly turns into an ambush and loses many of his men in the process. He and his surviving men come home damaged from the experience, and the two senior soldiers, Brandon and his childhood best friend Steve Shriver, played with equal parts machismo and pain by Channing Tatum, are the ones getting out. The problem arises when Brandon goes in to get his discharge papers only to find out he’s been stop-lossed, which means the army has deemed him and his experience a valuable asset and has recalled him to duty in an almost draft-like maneuver. The catch is that men can only be stop-lossed during times of war and President Bush has declared the war over, even though anyone who pays attention to the news or watched the first scene in this movie knows it’s not. This is when Brandon decides to fight and both his life and the movie begin to fall apart.
Trying to do poignant for the MTV set has never quite worked and even with the deft hand of Kimberly Peirce this movie fails in its attempt as well. Much of the angst in the movie is brought about through Brandon’s seeming abandonment of those around him who include Joseph Gordon-Levitt , who comes back into the public consciousness striped of his 3rd Rock From the Sun goofiness, and thankfully the long hair that went with it, who turned in a layered and slightly haunting performance and his parents, played by Linda Emond and Ciaran Hinds. Their attitude toward Brandon’s escape from the army is anything but sympathetic, reflecting what I’m sure many red staters are actually going to think about this movie. But what could have evolved into a gripping story about one man thwarting the system turns out to simply tow the party line. It’s hard to pick a side when it seems that no matter what poor Brandon does it’s wrong. In the end the film almost reads like a cautionary tale for those who are looking to rebel. The viewer gets shown that resistance is futile and nothing can be done about it, leaving you with nothing but a vague sense of helplessness. Had it been any other writer/director it could have been forgivable but when you create something as powerful and memorable as Boys Don’t Cry anything less seems like you’re just not trying hard enough. There is a sense on anger and indignity that the viewer is left with, but it’s more at the moral ambiguity of the piece and less about the war.
Copyright C. 2008 Andrea Silvers
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