Too soon for “Stop -Loss” to succeed

Stop-Loss Starring Ryan Phillippe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Directed by Kimberly Peirce Paramount Pictures

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How soon is “too soon”? This is a question many people ask when films come out about events currently happening. When “United 93” and “World Trade Center” came out only a few years after the terrorist attack on New York City, the movie-going public was sharply divided. Although they may bring up painful memories, it is very important that stories such as these be told in film so that people too young to remember the events can re-experience them from a new perspective.

“Home of the Brave” and “Redacted” are two recent films that have dealt with the current Iraq War. Although both films received mixed reviews and were not box office hits, they brought two very important issues to the American public – the psychological troubles veterans face when returning home from their tour of duty and the atrocities American soldiers commit that hauntingly channel those of the Vietnam War. The television series “Over There” turned the Iraq war into a drama, but was canceled after its first season and did not bring any new insight to the war. It seems that Americans get enough Iraq war from CNN and Fox News.

A new film about the war in Iraq could not have come out at a better time. It has been five years since Operation Iraqi Freedom, with the American death toll in Iraq just passing the 4,000 mark. Presidential election campaigns are in full swing, and Iraq is a major topic. “Stop-Loss,” the newest film about the current Iraq war, does not capitalize on any of these new benchmarks in the America’s unpopular war. Rather, it takes a very controversial topic in today’s military, Stop-Loss, and loses its focus in its drama.

A film produced by MTV, “Stop-Loss” tells the story Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), a decorated hero returning home from his tour of duty in Iraq. Rest at home is hard to find, though, with images of combat still burned into his head. His leave is interrupted, however, when he is informed that he has been re-ordered back to Iraq, another casualty of the military’s Stop-Loss policy. Feeling betrayed by his country, King and some of his fellow soldiers flee to Canada and go AWOL.

According to the film, there have been at least 81,000 soldiers put into the Stop-Loss program. Lawsuits against it usually fail, meaning the only choice they have is to go AWOL. This would be an interesting subject for a documentary but not for a modern war film. The film attempts to channel anti-Vietnam War films while drawing upon the war films of the 1980s that affirmed the honor and integrity of the U.S. military.

King is a hero who goes AWOL not because he is not a patriot, but because he feels betrayed by his superiors. The enemy is the U.S. military brass, not the United States. Audiences will feel for King when they leave the theaters, but will not be up in arms over the Iraq war or the Stop-Loss policy. The film does not offer solutions to the Stop-Loss program, nor does it condemn the United States’ actions in Iraq. By not taking a specific stance on the war as a whole, director Kimberly Peirce misses a golden opportunity to remind Americans just how far we have come since Sept. 11, 2001.

“Stop-Loss” is one of those war films that is too little, too late. The film’s subject matter is lifted straight from Vietnam War films, and while the Stop-Loss fiasco is terrible and unjust, it is not something new or groundbreaking. Stop-Loss has been going on for years and has been heavily documented in the news. In order for Iraq war films to really be effective, they need to bring attention to issues that have not been raised before, rather than re-hashing old stories from the 1960s.

Distance from the event is also very important – the most effective Vietnam War films were made over a decade after the war ended. “Stop-Loss” is a film that tugs at your heart, but is not the tour-de-force you would expect it to be. Five years in Iraq should be more than enough material for a filmmaker to sink his teeth into.