Film review: Stop-Loss

Published on Friday 18 April 2008 16:27

STOP-LOSS

Director: Kimberly Peirce

Running time: 113 minutes

***

THE commercial failure of Iraq war movies, such as Paul Haggis's In The Valley Of Elah and Brian De Palma's Redacted, has supported the notion that the viewing public isn't ready for films about a continuing conflict. Stop-Loss isn't likely to change that assumption, but it does a decent job of humanising the troops.

'Stop-loss' is the term for ordering a soldier back to the front line after he has completed his tour of duty. The soldier to whom this happens, Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), has a succinct explanation of the process: "It's a backdoor draft is what it is."

Since the absence of the draft is widely held to be one of the reasons the anti-war movement hasn't reached Vietnam proportions, this process may have serious consequences.

Director Kimberly Peirce's last film was 1999's Boys Don't Cry, and its success seems to have intimidated her. This movie began as a documentary, as Peirce, below, sought to understand her brother's decision to sign up for military duty. It changed course when he explained the nature of the stop-loss process.

But it would be misleading to view this as an issue film. It is produced by MTV, and much of it has the blunt energy of a rock video, not least during the opening scenes, in which a stop and search operation goes badly wrong. The camerawork, by Chris Menges (who won an Oscar for The Killing Fields), has a nasty immediacy. The use of music feels inappropriate, but it was inspired by the videos Peirce's brother brought home, shot by the troops on lightweight cameras.

The first stages of the film follow the fortunes of Brandon and his friends Steve (Channing Tatum) and Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) after a heroic homecoming to Texas. All three have been traumatised by their experience, and struggle to fit back into normal life. Tommy goes nuts, fighting in a bar, using wedding presents for target practice and drinking himself into a discharge.

The claustrophobia of these scenes is acutely observed, but the movie changes course when Brandon decides to drive to Washington with Steve's girlfriend Michele (Abbie Cornish) in the hope of persuading a friendly senator to excuse him from another tour of duty. This doesn't seem plausible, and the film becomes a road movie, with Brandon and Michele skulking around in cheap motels, on a mission that is obviously doomed.

Politically, Peirce sticks to the fashionable line among American liberal dissidents; she supports the troops, but not the war. That's a difficult brand of patriotism to carry off, particularly when your characters never become more than ciphers.

Still, the film is good on the nihilistic despair of the soldiers. "You know that box inside your head where you put all the bad shit you can't deal with?" Brandon says. "Well, mine's full." The trouble is, cinema audiences may share the sentiment.

• On release from Friday