Stop-Loss

After their horrific tour of duty in Iraq, three best friends return to their small Texas town to much adulation. But these young men find their readjustment to civilian life anything but joyous. Guilt-ridden over those left behind, they suffer from hallucinations and flashbacks; emotionally crippled, they are lit fuses on the verge.

Tommy Burgess (Third Rock from the Sun’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is rejected by his fiancee and seeks solace in a bottle. Steve “Robosoldier” Shriver (Channing Tatum) becomes abusive towards his girlfriend Michelle (Abbie Cornish). Decorated hero Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) tries to put his military past behind him, but is devastated when the Army orders him back to Iraq via the government’s Stop-Loss policy. Angry and betrayed by the country he so proudly served, Brandon goes AWOL and is assisted by a confused Michelle.

The questionable “Stop-Loss” policy is widely referred to as the “back door draft”, whereby a loophole in their contract is used to extend one’s term of service. Due to a shortage of recruits, this policy has already affected more than 81,000 Americans troops.

In her first picture since the groundbreaking 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry, director Kimberly Peirce brings this important and controversial issue to the fore. Through her understanding of the human condition, we see the protagonists’ difficulties in coming to terms with their experience while confronted by those who do not want to hear the grim truth. [In a country that pretends to support free speech, yet condemns those who speak ill of the President, Peirce may well find herself blacklisted like country trio The Dixie Chicks.]

Interspersed throughout the film are snippets of a video diary showing soldiers at play, illustrating the bond that exists only between men in combat. The opening battle sequence is bloody and shocking, but serves to contrast their purposeful days overseas with the aimless ones that lie at home.

Peirce, who cowrote the screenplay with Mark Richard, gives enormous insight into the characters’ motivations. Trained to kill but not to cope, the beliefs they were raised on -- pride, patriotism, family and friendship -- have become as shell-shocked as they are.

Phillippe gives a remarkable performance of a once confident leader who suddenly doesn’t know where he belongs. Displaying a maturity that he has hitherto not tapped, his portrayal of a fugitive on a journey to reclaim his soul is riveting and deep. The inexperienced Tatum gives an impressive effort as a man who cannot relinquish his gung-ho ethos, and Levitt ably conveys the conflict raging inside. The Australian Cornish is passable, but has little to do except pout. [It is a shame the film will suffer from being known as the catalyst that led to Phillippe’s divorce from Reese Witherspoon, as it was widely rumoured he had an affair with Cornish during filming in the fall of 2006.]

A scathing indictment of an insensitive military machine, Bush’s America, and his egotism in waging a war that cannot be won, Stop-Loss will engender much debate. This penetrating and compassionate drama will linger in your mind. Rating: 8 out of 10.