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From SeeingBlack.com Movies/TV
Ultimately, it is this panorama of war conflict painted by Peirce that draws us into the story of a diverse group of young men from Texas who suffer injury and death in Iraq and then return home at the end of their tour. That panorama takes us from riveting, deadly firefights in Iraq, to moments back in Texas also filled with violence, mental instability and a pervasive sense of life being out of balance. The U.S. Army and government—not each solder—have control over each vulnerable life. Though Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) has fulfilled his obligation to the Army and defied death along the way, he is told that he has been “stop-lossed” and is ordered to return to Iraq. There have been many excellent documentaries and independent features about the U.S. invasion and conflict in Iraq, including the award-winning “Fahrenheit 9/11,” directed by Michael Moore, and last year’s Oscar-nominated “No End in Sight,” directed by Charles Ferguson. Also Last year, there was “In the Valley of Elah” directed by Paul Haggis and Brian DePalma’s underrated independent production, “Redacted,” which delivered a sense of the raw inhumanity and horror of the conflict. These no-nonsense productions certainly have ratcheted up the level of expectations for a depiction of war’s inhumanity and horror but, also, the humanity involved as well. In “Stop-Loss,” there is an authenticity in the little moments that draws us into the life-and-death reality for each man. We cannot escape their youth. Rob Brown, who plays the Black soldier, makes a video of moments during their tour that might remind viewers of the popularity of the war videogame “Call to Duty.” He imitates Mr. T. while allowing one of his fellow soldiers to shave his hair into a mohawk, and then defends his intimacy with an “underage” girl back home, saying, “she said she was 18.” The rough-and-tumble soldier’s levity blends easily with the raw edges of their lives: alcoholism, drunken brawls, shredded personal relationships and, most sadly, a profound misunderstanding from most of them about the war and their role in it. It is both disturbs and rings true to hear the soldiers refer to Iraqis as “Hajis,” which seems like a reference to the turban-clad sidekick Haji in the popular 1960’s cartoon “Johnny Quest.” When King falters in his hero’s speech at a parade when he returns home, his best buddy grabs the mike and declares that they both had killed Iraqis in Iraq “so we don’t have to kill them in Texas.” Though Phillippe offers a fine performance, the entire cast delivers as well. Victor Rasuk, in the role of Rico Rodriguez, fills the screen in a riveting scene that highlights how many soldiers, though not among the 4,000 U. S. soldiers killed, have been horribly maimed and injured. With moments such as this, “Stop-Loss” won’t let us go. It delivers the same sense of capture experienced by these soldiers forced into a conflict they are trying to escape. This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i> You can order Esther Iverem's critically praised We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006 (Thunder’s Mouth Press, April 2007)at Amazon.com or purchase at your favorite bookstore. It makes a wonderful gift! Thanks! Read and search hundreds of reviews on SeeingBlack.com's Movies/TV channel and archive. Click here to post a comment or your own review of "Stop-Loss.” © Copyright by SeeingBlack.com |
