Stop-Loss: Another Hollywood Iraq Film Misses the Mark

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Stop-Loss is Hollywood's latest attempt to define the Iraq War and the American troops who have fought in it. And is it the latest to fail.

I'm not a film critic, so I'll skip over the weak script, melodramatic music, and atrocious "southern" accents. But I feel an obligation as a veteran, and especially as the head of the largest Iraq and Afghanistan veterans group in America, to comment on films that attempt to define our experiences. Iraq and Afghanistan vets must serve as pop culture watchdogs, and help the American public understand what is an accurate portrayal of the Iraq experience... and what is not.

First of all, the movie contains some inaccuracies any vet could have spotted. For instance, in one scene, a wounded enlisted soldier repeatedly calls his enlisted squad leader (a Staff Sergeant) "sir." "Sir" is a title for officers. Calling a two-tour staff sergeant "sir" would probably bring on a response familiar to anyone who has served in the Army: "Don't call me Sir. I work for a living." It may seem like a minor critique, but it is one of the many little things that erode Stop-Loss's authenticity.

But what really bothers me about Stop-Loss is the stereotyping of combat veterans. When they aren't pro-war, beer-swigging, handgun-toting, Toby Keith-singing super-patriots with flags tattooed on their arms, troops in Stop-Loss are driving drunk, getting in fistfights and hitting their wives. This "Rambo" stereotype is sure to scare the hell out of most Americans -- and definitely my neighbors. Many veterans already feel isolated when they come home from combat. Films like Stop-Loss will only ostracize them further.

Some may argue that on balance, the film is good because it shows that America is in a war that impacts real men and women. Psychological injuries and stop-loss are very real issues. At least one in three Iraq veterans, or about half a million people, will face a serious mental health injury, and over 70,000 service members have been affected by a shortsighted and unfair "stop-loss" policy that keeps troops in the military after their contracts are up. But Hollywood and the media must find a balanced way to address these issues with sensitivity and understanding, not cheap generalizations and made-for-TV sensationalism. And if it takes Stop-Loss to open your eyes to the effects of the war, then you have been sleeping for way too long, and should go back to watching My Super Sweet 16 on MTV.

Maybe HBO's Generation Kill or Matt Damon's The Green Zone will be the first feature film to hit the mark. We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, if you want to understand the struggle of combat veterans, I suggest you check out a great documentary: The War Tapes. It's the true story of a National Guard unit serving in Iraq, filmed by the troops themselves. These troops tell their own stories, and it makes for compelling watching. But when it comes to Hollywood, Iraq veterans are still waiting to have their stories properly told.

Comments

[JBS]

... and it didn't take an Act of Congress to make me a "gentleman".

[realpolitic]

"But what really bothers me about Stop-Loss is the stereotyping of combat veterans. When they aren't pro-war, beer-swigging, handgun-toting, Toby Keith-singing super-patriots with flags tattooed on their arms, troops in Stop-Loss are driving drunk, getting in fistfights and hitting their wives." Yes, combating this sterotype is important because it makes it too easy for guileless political leaders to hide behind the troops to support their policies and to argue all troops support the war. Polls show troop's feelings on the war mirror those of the public in general. Portraying troops as gun-toting rednecks makes it too easy for other Americans to forget them when they come home and to continue to deny them benefits.

[Eric8869]

The worst part about Stop Loss is not the fact that they didn't get certain details right but that it gets the topic all wrong.

Instead of leaving you irate at Bush's "backdoor draft" the movie instead makes you feel like "quit bitching and just go back!". It literally makes it look like the lead character is betraying his friends by not returning to Iraq.

To quibble about their portrayal of a soldier who has beat his wife is ridiculous since the data has shown an increase in soldiers KILLING their wives. So I would leave that alone.

I had just watched COMING HOME for the first time a week before I saw Stop Loss. The comparisons were staggering. Altho Coming Home is really a romance movie it really gave you a sense of the sadness, betrayal, rage and emotions that come from returning from a war zone. It just increased how inauthentic Stop Loss really is.

[dugan45]

I saw "The Green Berets" on a white sheet attached to the side of a building in Nam. Even lifers and enlisted for the war literally walked away from that gung-ho chest pounder. Though flawed, "Stop Loss" captures the view of backward beer-drinking wife beaters caught up in more than they can understand, but was this film not intended to represent that limited slice of reality? Are there not gung-ho out there who come to realize America is not always right, that it can behave maliciously? "Berets" was in all respects awful; "Loss" has some credibility. The film flopped at the box office because Americans do not want to be reminded that they voted for bush: they have yet to accept their own culpability.

All military are not like those portrayed in the film, but "Stop Loss" already has generated the fleshing out of viewpoints offered in and excluded from the film.

We were in Nam because we were lied to. Sound familiar? During the Sixties and Seventies, civilians had difficulty drawing distinctions between policies that took us there and perpetuated that unjust war and the soldiers who fought it. Today's Americans do draw distinctions between those who rule and those who fight. That said, some still adhere to the "America, right or wrong" mantra. Some who have posted on this page who despise the treatment of Nam vets should take that into consideration: patriotism over nationalism, please. Need an example? Walk in Paul's shadow..

[dugan45]

I should have said, too, the film is about affects and outcomes for men of war, which can be more than a person's mind or body can handle. Note the violence, death, disability, and dispair that make people casualties of war. These are men who come from die-hard Texas and all that means. The film is not about marshmallows living soft lives in a mid-town Manhattan apartment or weak others around them.

Why do you think so many soldiers end up under bridges addicted and living out of cardboard boxes; beat up their wives or other family members or another; kill someone; attempt or succeed at suicide; live life profoundly depressed and/or medicated; or withdraw from the world around them except to grocery shop and buy the gasoline? Or put on body parts to begin another day, day after day, for the remainder of their lives? Why do so many end up lonely and isolated and withdrawn?

This film succeeds at expressing serious costs of war. If you cannot find the empathy or understanding of what that entails after having experienced it vicariously, think then of costs being built into your healthcare premiums or the amount it will cost the VA to see after the casualties; that is, if the miltary sees to it their care.

This film does accomplish what it sets out to do: inform and provoke. Let's talk about what it does accomplish rather than how it misses the mark.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

A worthy subject matter doesn't always translate into a good film. Many people assume that if this film flops at the box office, it's simply because Americans don't want to face the war. That's not it. It could be that it's not a very good film.

The film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was considered edgy at the time, but in retrospect, it's a pretty crappy movie, even though the subject, interracial marriage, was and still is important.

[InofTouch]

It a double edge sword when it comes to makeing movies about when the war is this always continueing and ever changing and of course real in a fictional theme. Though there was the same argument about movies about the subject of war in Vietnam about there realism, meaning and relateablity. It was until end of the Vietnam war that many of the films that are talk about here are consider symbol of what happen in the Vietnam.

until then, documentry well have to do because there snapshot of real drama with real nameable characters­....bascia­lly it just real in a real theme.

[stagebandman]

Let's remember, there was only one hollywood movie about Viet Nam made during that conflict, "The Green Berets", which, though entertaining and exciting, was certainly John Wayne's big cheerleading RAH RAH for our "cause". Not until a few years later did we start to see the real effects on filmmakers. The Boys Of Company C, Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, The Odd Angry Shot (worth seeking out) all came out in the late 70s-early 80s. Platoon didn't come out until '86 and Full Metal Jacket a year later, 13 years after the "official" end of our presence in 'Nam.

I think it takes some time for the general public to differentiate between what's on the news and what's in the movie theaters. People like to look back, not have something show how things are. I think that's why these movies are doing so poorly. The documentaries are definitely the way to go, but nobody ever sees them, anyway. Oh, well, bring on the next Hanna Montana movie! Yee-Haa!

[realpolitic]

I have read that many Vietnam veterans consider The Green Berets" they least favorite war film.

[realistic2008]

Will it not be wonderful if the world would simple get ready of its armies, and since we want to get ready of all illegals including illegal combatants we will eliminate the problem and we will save trillions of dollars. Anyone agrees?

[drivensnow2525]

Paul...I enjoy watching you on MSNBC, and always pay close attention when you talk. I know I am being given the straight "unspun" facts, and i believe in you and your work with vets. My niece and her husband both served in Iraq at different times. Her husband was injured stateside, and the Army was atrocious in their handling of his case. He was finally discharged with a medical. My niece developed medical problems and the Army separated her from her husband and baby and for 9 months raked her over the coals before medically discharging her too. We support our troops.....yeah, right.....this administration supports the troops somewhat when they are in combat, and dumps on them when they are home, and are of no more use to them. I have heard a rumor that Rumsfelt has an office in DC and is still on the taxpayers payroll. Keep up the great work Paul, and don't let those phony right wing quasi veterans try to talk over you on tv....Thanks for your service.

[realistic2008]

May I add my admiration for this soldier whom I consider, truly an "ALL American". I too have listened to him, he speaks with passion and yet with reason, logic and honesty, what else one can ask of a real man..

[paulrieckhoff]

Thanks, drivensnow2525. Please tell your niece and her husband to join us at www.IAVA.org. And if they have issues we can help with, let us know.

[CharlesMac]

I wish that Hollywood would stay off of blogs and out of activism. They should focus on that which they do best, and cough up a decent movie on Iraq. The American people have been treated like mushrooms since Day One of the war. This is a perfect opportunity for Hollywood to step in and fill the void.

First and foremost, the movie has to resonate with the soldiers. So they can say "That's what it was like, that is what I experienced, that is what I feel now".

We need to be able to share a common understanding. Hopefully, then we will get off of our corpulent asses and put some effort into getting done what needs to be done for the returning soldiers. Instead of ignoring them, or flailing around after the fact of a problem.

I never thought I would be so gawddamned ashamed of my country.

[zenwriter]

I've never been a soldier, but I thought In the Valley of Elah with Tommy Lee Jones was a powerful anti-ware film about Iraq. Did anyone with first-hand knowledge of the war see it?

[RadioResearch]

HuffPost's Pick

Paul,
Thanks for another good post. I swear that if it were not for you and John Stoltz on HuffPo we would never hear about this stuff. Personally, I do not bother with war movies and stopped doing so after "Platoon" which even though it was filmed by Olly Stone who served in the 25th and fought with me in the Battle of Soui Cut, it nonetheless was watered down and politicised by "FollyWood."

It is difficult to watch any movie that is related to your own experience, let alone one that is inaccurate and poorly done. But lets face it, if it was done right it would scare the bejusus out of most people (imagine a movie with all of the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of combat - no thanks, I had enough of that in my own time and I can still smell the saving napalm of the morning after)

Keep up the good work and thanks for your service after the service (something a lot of vets avoid). We VN vets were screwed over a lot and it seems to be happening again. We vets and combat vets in particular all need to come together and help each other regardless of our generational wars to fight all of this nonsense.

Draft the neo-cons! Make them walk the walk or shut up!

[marlin336w]

Welcome to the world of Viet Nam veterans. Tell someone you're a Viet Nam Vet and suddenly they look at you as if you started drooling blood out of your slack jawed mouth from all the innocent babies you personally raped and killed. They expect you to start knifing, shooting, bombing, and straffing all over the place. Thanks John Kerry (LIAR).
So, tell me, do the Democrats who are clammering for an immediate withdrawal of our troops REALLY support the troops, or are they just saying that so that America can "feel good" about a win like Viet Nam was won? (LOST in SPITE of the troops). Thanks Politicians.
I am a Viet Nam Veteran. My personal guns have killed less people than Ted Kennedy's car. Yet somehow, people are afraid of me??? This is honoring the troops? Go figure.
Liberals hated Viet Nam Vets. Spit on us. Denied us. Refused to honor us. Through neglect, KILLED MANY RETURNED VETS.
Why should you expect different, all you are is a war monger to liberals. (DEMOCRATS)
To me, anyone who fights to defend America is a hero.

THANK YOU for doing your part. I will not forget you

Texas Vet.

[paulrieckhoff]

Thanks very much, marlin336w. And thanks for your service.

[research]

Paul, your articles and the responses they inspire are marvelously polite and thoughtful,

you have a gift.

Of the good the bad and the ugly, you can guess which one rarely gets into movies.

Let's hope it makes Americans realize the tragedy of stop loss.

[Guitarsandmore]

Paul,

Now you know how I feel when movies depict anti war activists as dope smoking, long hairs, that never work and beat their women. It's a stereo type. Don't believe Forst Gump. Forest Gump is a phony. Tom Hanks, look ashamed.

Best Regards,

G&M

[CaseyBabes]

But Paul definitely captures one verifiable thing about troops, all troops, including him........they sure do bitch and moan a lot. (Yeah, me too, as a 22-year lifer.)

[Jess27]

I don't think telling the truth is bitching and moaning.

[Flynnstone73]

I understand all your complaints and appreciate your service but it's a movie what did you expect

[squarebird]

"are driving drunk, getting in fistfights and hitting their wives"

Yup .. the Armed Forces is the only employer in the country who will ensure that any one of those three behaviors will not only get you fired, but will get you quickly incarcerated. Having enlisted referred to as "sir" gives away the fact that the film-makers did not spend one solid day around actual military personnel, nor one hour doing research. Therefore, it's NOT a movie about the U.S. military, which IS what the trailers led us to expect. Put the characters in Star Wars costumes resisting policies of an Army in a Galaxy far far away, and THEN I will concede that it's a movie what did I expect!

Robert at the Pentagon