Of all the movies being made about the war in Iraq, few have examined the burdens being shouldered by the families of the nation's fighting men and women. Fewer still have looked up close at the price paid by those who have lost a husband -- let alone a wife and mother.

Yet as the war entered its third year in 2005, and after the Pentagon and the Senate banned news photos of the flag-draped coffins of fallen soldiers, John Cusack, the star of dozens of films, found himself yearning for a movie project that could cast a spotlight on an aspect of the war that the government was keeping largely off screen.

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