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Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R

Studio: Paramount / MTV

Format

Widescreen, NTSC

Number of Discs: 1

Running Time: 111 minutes

Languages

English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)

21 (Single-Disc Edition)

Vantage Point (Single-Disc Edition)

Definitely, Maybe (Widescreen)

Jumper

In Bruges

« Not totally accurate, but heartbreaking » How you feel about this movie will depend on how you feel about the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the first place. I've been reading 1-star reviews by pro-military people, including active duty soldiers saying, "These guys are cowards. If you volunteer, you're giving your life to the military, so do your duty." And 4-star reviews by people who are against the war, saying StopLoss captures the heartbreak and trauma this war has caused. I know this movie isn't particularly accurate, but I still think it's strong. From the point of view of most of the world, this is a movie about the bad guys. These soldiers are people who, because of cultural and economic pressure, joined the military thinking they were protecting their country. But the military (and the whole government) were controlled by war criminals. They were sent into a battle that had nothing to do with 9/11. It was the product of leaders who wanted to conquer the world. They were betrayed into becoming the Imperial Storm Troopers from Star Wars. And when they try to get out, they are stop-lossed and sent back. I know a lot of soldiers will strongly disagree (although I know some who agree just as strongly.) I know most soldiers try to do the right thing. But you can't do right when you're put into a situation where there is no right, in a country where you were never wanted. I think Stop Loss captures their helplessness very well. I only wish the movie makers had mentioned the possibility of refusing orders and doing your time, instead of running away or going back. Of soldiers who have refused to return, almost nobody has had to do more than a year. IMO, that's better than facing death or PTSD, or becoming a war criminal. But see the film and decide for yourself. Learn more at the CouragetoResist web site. .:. Rating: 3 / 5

« Stop the Losses » This movie has a strong anti-war message but presents it in a way that does not dishonor or diminish the soldiers on the front line. It does however offer a pointed and legitimate critique of the government and military leaders. The acting is solid, each character with their own hopes, biases, struggles and loyalties. The painful reality of combat and its indelible impact on those who fight speaks for itself and challenges viewers to look at what they believe in and why. .:. Rating: 4 / 5

« Wow! » How decent, brave, fairly naive kids get taken advantage of, is what this film invites us to think about. It is more a film about the psychological casualties of war stateside than about battle in Iraq. There is just enough battle to show why kids might have bad dreams and family problems when they get home, and so those scenes were necessarily condensed.This may be somewhat unrealistic, and certainly not representative for all soldiers, much as Jarhead may be not representative of everyone with regard to the boredom side of being in the military. I do think absolutely that we should honor men and women who enlist with their eyes wide open. But many kids tend to have their eyes wide shut and the system too often takes advantage of this. This has been explored in many films. Gallipoli is one of my favorites. In Stop Loss as in the Australian film Gallipoli the kids were rather simple boys. Stop Loss deals with more or less beer-drinking small-town rural kids who are basically robust and any disillusionment does not come to the surface on the battlefield, although they are getting some kind of wake-up but they are tough and adaptable and it stays within. The serious psychological conflicts erupt when they get back home for awhile. I think that the acting here of conflicted youth and the different individual ways of handling it (or not) is really great and the best feature of the film. Statistically sure not every soldier experiences post traumatic stress and/or family problems - but the point is that when it does happen, and it surely does! -- it can take many forms from subtle to quite overt. It is easier to remember the dead than the damaged. I find it offensive that we honor the dead as heroes and too often treat the psychologically damaged as though they are not full human beings but rather "weak," or "cowards," or "misfits." In this particular war we even seem to try to keep the physically damaged soldiers out of the public mind, and bring the dead back quietly to keep the coffins away from the media. Maybe this is the price of an all volunteer army, to keep the unpleasant stuff out of sight so that those kids who are naive will enlist with their eyes wide shut. Stop Loss offers kids an opportunity to think through some of the unpleasant things of which they may be unaware. But even for an older person like me I think the film was a very well done fictional exploration of some of the home front realities of wars and of the War in Iraq in particular. .:. Rating: 5 / 5