ask.com


I was a kid during Vietnam and my dad, then a captain in the army, a psychiatrist stationed in Detroit, was the guy other guys would beg and act crazy to to avoid the draft. I also grew up on shows like Combat! and The Rat Patrol and on my seventh birthday my parents got me a plastic but otherwise very life-like M16 -- a very odd gift from two lifelong liberals during wartime (in my home now the only weapon I allow for my six-year-old son is a lightsaber.) I am still a sucker for WWII movies and finally got to write my own, The Tuskegee Airmen.

As I got a little older, however it was the Vietnam war films that most shaped my adolescence: The Boys From Company C, Coming Home, Platoon, The Deer Hunter.

Like most Americans I have no idea what it is really like to fight and survive a war. The closest I will ever get is through the media. What I do know, however, is that Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss is the most complete and moving film about the effect of war on youth since The Deer Hunter. All of the small-town intensity she poured into Boys Don't Cry she injects into her new film.

Though the film is not overtly political, I left the film seething at George Bush, a dope like me who had romantic notions about faraway wars. I'm ashamed to say that I understood his idiotic statement the other week to troops serving in Afghanistan, saying how "romantic" their mission. I could've said the same thing (only when I had my chance to serve I didn't hide out in the Texas Air National Guard).

Just like The Deer Hunter, Stop-Loss lifted the veil for me, disabused me of my romantic notions of war. I left furious at this administration for toying with these earnest young men, robbing them of their youth for a web of lies, traumatizing them not to keep us safe at home but so old men could play army and get rich.

Trey Ellis is the author of Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single-Fatherhood.


 

Comments
265
Pending Comments
0

Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to

Hint sample
View Comments:
Page: 1 2 3 Next › Last » (3 pages total)
collapse Calylily See Profile I'm a Fan of Calylily

BRAVO! I loved your article on "STOP-LOSS"! Like you, the movie had a huge impact on me, and I also lived through the Vietnam war, and have heard it all. It was great to hear from the new generation as to the similarities on how their war is affecting their lives. . . it will definitely become a MOVIE FOR THEIR TIME . . . and hopefully an Oscar nod for Phillippe.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:42 PM on 04/01/2008
collapse Sanjong Thapa See Profile I'm a Fan of Sanjong Thapa

Americans KIA in Iraq -4,000
Americans KIA in Vietnam - 58,000

If STOP LOSS is this generation's DEER HUNTER, can you name this generation's Vietnam?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:09 PM on 03/31/2008
collapse albino See Profile I'm a Fan of albino

Bill Moyers did an excellent piece about this film on his P.B.S. program Fri. night. I can't wait to see the
film when I get a chaance. I was fascinated to learn the film had been produced by Phil Donnahue.The
young woman who shot the film is heaadquarted in Austin, Tx.
Being a Viet Nam vet, I was deeply moved by what I saw. It definitely is not "romantic."
Bush, who couldn't even passs his flight physical, is such an idiot.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:54 PM on 03/30/2008
collapse Merg See Profile I'm a Fan of Merg

If movie makers or MTV want to attract this young demographic to this type of view of the Iraq War, they should make a futuristic one in which the Draft has been re-instated and activated. Under this scenario, young men and women are called up. The scences could revolve around the shock to the lives of, say, a 22 year old stock broker, who suddenly finds him/herself called to serve in Iraq. How he/she must suddenly stop his/her life, make the arrangements to 1) get out of the apartment lease and pay off bills...all that little stuff that must be handled (like making out a will) in case you don't come back. 2) then you can tack on the rest of the war movie as is. In this way it will kind of personalize it and make it real for them. It just isn't real for them now because they don't have skin in the game.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:22 PM on 03/30/2008
collapse heywhat See Profile I'm a Fan of heywhat

I am against the war and I abhor the dimwitted, delusional shrub and I understand that movies give us insights into events that most of us will never experience first hand; that being written, I don't think we need to rely on movie renditions for our understanding of war anymore than we need to rely on a romantic numbskull.

http://strictlyanecdotal.com

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:12 PM on 03/30/2008
collapse RTOTrainer See Profile I'm a Fan of RTOTrainer

The petition should at least offer a full and correct explanation of how the policy works.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:29 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse pinkerman2 See Profile I'm a Fan of pinkerman2

I really enjoy your writing and hope that you and many others with a voice will start to include the dead
or wounded of the countries that we so readily, illegally, invade. Starting with the indigenous people in this country and, with the exception of WW two, we have bullied ourselves into a reputation of being the bully on the block. We were once known as a great nation; I'm plagarizing here, "'we lost our greatness when we lost our goodness" Which invasion was that? Where did our goodness go!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:39 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse nomoredead See Profile I'm a Fan of nomoredead

If factories can move to a foreign country and corporations can have a off-shore address then young people should have the option to move ' off-shore ' for a few years during a war. Wheres big businesses patriotism ?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:01 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse LeonBNJ See Profile I'm a Fan of LeonBNJ

Although the film 'Stop-Loss' is produced under MTV films part of Time-Warner, which specializes in films for the 15-25 age crowd that mainly goes out to the movies, I doubt it will do well in the box office. That age group goes to the movies to get out of the parent's house, for dating and such so a film like Stop-Loss will not attract that crowd that want's more sex and violence entertainment, not films that are of subjects important to them.
While there may be factors that caused the person featured in this film that made him subject to stop-loss, they and others in the same position joined the military and have to obey their laws, not skip out despite their personal feelings. This war is ruining our military and in turn our country from the inside. Our National Gurard troops and their equipment have been ruined in Iraq and are unavilable to help with natural disasters or domestic defense needs. Until we really do something to end this commitment of our soldiers in Iraq we may see even more troops challange a return to Iraq under Stip-loss orders to save their sanity, their bodies from horrible injuries, their families being made destitute by their repeated re-deployments and their lives.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:24 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse RTOTrainer See Profile I'm a Fan of RTOTrainer

Subjects important to them?

Over 4 million people become of age for military service annually in the US (source: CIA World Factbook). Only about 250,000 join one of the services each year. Some percentage of those are not in this 17-18 year old group, but we'll ignore that for a moment.

That's slightly more then 6% that might find this a subject important to them. And that portion, presumably ideologically disposed to miltiary service, seems unlikely to see a film which is unlikely to portray their choices favorably, as attractive.

No surprise to me that it's not doing well--most don't care and those that do are predisposed to view a military choice negatively and would likely go for the purpose of validation of that view.

Has anyone here seen it? The one factor that interests me about it is how badly they get the actual function of the Stop Loss policy wrong. One review I've seen indicates that the main character is actually discharged and then subjected to Stop Loss, which would be impossible. Is that accurate?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:16 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse HuffJob See Profile I'm a Fan of HuffJob

no, he thinks he's suppose to be discharged but gets the stop-loss order as he's going through what he thinks is the discharge and is ordered back to iraq.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:56 PM on 03/31/2008
collapse witdarealness See Profile I'm a Fan of witdarealness

Actually, that is possible... When you sign up, you sign up for usually four years of active duty, then four years of either active or inactive reserve duty...

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:36 AM on 03/31/2008
collapse shockmagog See Profile I'm a Fan of shockmagog

I don't know, is it? I haven't seen the movie either, or even the review you mentioned.

Many more movies to come. Just wait until the frenzied troop pull out, then the continued and multiplying hearings, then the recriminations, and then the indictments, etc., etc.

After that, the unjustified Iraq invasion and occupation will be the fodder for countless movies for a generation or more--mostly involving hubris and incompetence at the executive level, and added to it, a healthy dose of heroism mixed with cruelty and fear at the troop level.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:57 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse RTOTrainer See Profile I'm a Fan of RTOTrainer

It'd be nice if we service people could not be portrayed as victims, bigots, unhinged, dangerous.... I might settle for that.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:42 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse shockmagog See Profile I'm a Fan of shockmagog

I thought Three Kings was a good movie. It portrayed service people in a good heroic light. Even in light of an unjustified occupation, it can still be done. I would see it as another variation on a theme as a soldier who becomes disillusioned with the motivations of those in charge. That would be a universal theme in a newer context. It need not be a depiction of the "soldier as victim" either, I think.

But when reality trumps the fantastic as the Bush Administration often does, it's difficult to put out anything that would line up ideologically with their brand of patriotism. It just would not be believable.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:57 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse Ramirez See Profile I'm a Fan of Ramirez

Three Kings portrayed US soldiers as artful liars, thieves, and looters; although they did find their humanity at the end when the movie turned to blaming Bush 41.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:48 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse RTOTrainer See Profile I'm a Fan of RTOTrainer

Disillusioned with the motivations of those in charge--Paths of Glory. That's a good one.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:14 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse castlerider See Profile I'm a Fan of castlerider


Deer Hunter wasn't a big box office hit either.

But it was a major cult movie, and standed the test of time in a major way. I saw this movie, and I know people will watch it for years and years just the same to see what our kids went through fighting Bush's occupation.

How shameful. See? that's the differene. This isn't really even a WAR. Nam was a war. with organized armies fighting us back. This is an occupation with desperate citizens who hate us for invading their land to steal their oil. And whether we are their to take their oil or not, doesn't matter. It's what they, and the whole world understands and believes is what's going on. The entire mistake and disaster behind this is all Bush.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:16 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse shockmagog See Profile I'm a Fan of shockmagog

It grossed 48M domestically, too, but yes, it was a cult movie, as well, long afterwards, and before everyone had VCRs.

it's worth noting that The Deer Hunter was released 3 years after the Americans pulled out of Viet Nam. Iraq will be depicted on the screen (realistically--or in other words, negatively) for many years after the United States has withdrawn from Iraq, much like the French ditched Algiers.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0907-07.htm

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:47 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse Ramirez See Profile I'm a Fan of Ramirez

"Deer Hunter wasn't a big box office hit either."

It won five Oscars including Best Picture. 1978.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:21 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse Hallucinocynic See Profile I'm a Fan of Hallucinocynic

My dad was a first sergeant in the army in WWII, Pacific theater. Did the whole Solomons, Gilberts, Marianas campaigns (was at Tinian when the Enola Gay flew out with the A bomb...) and when I got drafted (I tried to fight it - was laughed out of a review hearing) his advice to me was : Keep your mouth shut and do what you're told. I did. It was, in fact, when I deplaned at Da Nang that my personal political philosophy changed. It was impossible, with all the materiel on hand, not to see how much money there was to be made by waging war. (I remember row upon row of WATER TRUCKS parked about 100 yards from the repl depot.)

Was I wrong? Someone above mused about what he would do if he had been levied for a second time to RVN. I know what I would have done. I would have headed somewhere for political asylum. The war in RVN was wrong, from the first day. The war in Iraq is wrong and has been wrong since the first day. There is NO logical argument to be made in the defense of this profiteering and plundering of a sovereign nation, anymore than there was a legitimate argument (Domino Theory? Feh and double Feh!) for the incursion into Vietnam. But still, young men and women in the armed forces will go and try to do their best...what a waste of an important resource.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:47 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse Kundera See Profile I'm a Fan of Kundera

Wait a minute, I'm shocked! You watched a Hollywood movie, walked out and hated George Bush. How could this be??????

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:06 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse SamEllison See Profile I'm a Fan of SamEllison

Are you blaming Hollywood?
I think you need some help, a doctor or something.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:03 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse MPCarr See Profile I'm a Fan of MPCarr

Stop Loss failed at the box office on Friday, and should be over within a week.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:05 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse OrleansCatalan See Profile I'm a Fan of OrleansCatalan

But the Iraq war is forever.

Hey Republicans! Have you enlisted yet?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:03 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse Kundera See Profile I'm a Fan of Kundera

Just because you support something doesn't mean you have to participate. That's like Repubs demanding all lefties have partial birth abortions.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:13 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse PeterTheChanter See Profile I'm a Fan of PeterTheChanter

no, i'm sorry, if you want to be taken seriously, you must enlist. you simply must. if you don't, then you justifiably open yourself to charges of hypocrisy, chicken-hawkery, profiteering, hollow patriotism, and meagerness of spirit. you cannot send other young men and women to die for a cause you putatively endorse...that is the *whole point* of the republicanism that your breed embraces as definitive: the minute-man, the lost cause, the doughboys, the g.i.'s--according to the logic of your sort, it never would have happened unless these brave volunteers put themselves in harm's way. if this is a good, and decent, and noble cause, then you must enlist or forever be silent.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:29 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse Kundera See Profile I'm a Fan of Kundera

PeterTheChanter,
So I guess you love veteran McCain who also has 2 sons in Iraq. So it's okay, now, right?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:28 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse SonnyBono See Profile I'm a Fan of SonnyBono

Correction - one son at Annapolis, another in Middle East - give him the benefit of the doubt that it's Iraq but what about the rest of the McCain clan - for a hundred years war, you need a lot of cannon fodder - let them all go and take the Bush twins, Cheney's daughters and son-in-law and Mary's life partner for that matter - heck Lynne can baby sit while the happy couple is in Iraq.

Chickenhawks of the world unite and join the military so you can fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:15 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse PeterTheChanter See Profile I'm a Fan of PeterTheChanter

no, but if you want to *support* warfare, then you must be willing to serve, and at a moment's notice...if you want to oppose it, you are free to do so. there is no inconsistency, no illogic in this position (i think i got my comments switched around; this should be in response to the rto ape). i argue that republicans should be disarmed for the good of the planet.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:24 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse RTOTrainer See Profile I'm a Fan of RTOTrainer

You relaize that the logical conclusion of teh chickenhwak meme is that only we vets get to commoent on and formulate military policy, right? You have a problem with the concept of civilian control of the military?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:30 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse PeterTheChanter See Profile I'm a Fan of PeterTheChanter

which is why there should be a draft with absolutely no exemptions, no deferments. i'd love to see how long this fracas would last if every man's son of you had to enlist...

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:19 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse RTOTrainer See Profile I'm a Fan of RTOTrainer

I enlisted 14 years ago and I'm less then 2 years into my third enlistment. One of the things I enlisted for was to defend the rights of others, and seeing that this job is not suited to everyone, indeed not much more than about 2% of the entire population, perhaps, I'll oppose the idea of a draft to my last breath unless it's a clear case of a matter of national survival.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:03 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse BigFootJesus See Profile I'm a Fan of BigFootJesus

According to the neocons this is a fight for the very survival of Western Civilization as we know it. The "islamofascists" want a Caliphate from sea to shining sea. If that doesn't merit a draft then what does?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:57 AM on 03/30/2008
collapse PeterTheChanter See Profile I'm a Fan of PeterTheChanter

i thought we were fighting for our way of life...i thought we were fighting them over there, so that...etc. if it's a clash of civilisations...iraq draft 08!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:21 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse rwe See Profile I'm a Fan of rwe

I thought they did and that is why they are lefties

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:35 PM on 03/29/2008
collapse SamEllison See Profile I'm a Fan of SamEllison

BINGO! There is your solution.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:05 PM on 03/29/2008