Stop-Loss Takes a Different View of the Military

Many war movies glorify war, making it seem exciting and glamorous. The soldiers seem like they want to be there and in the end are redeemed for their heroism. Stop-Loss is not most war movies.

Stop-Loss deals with soldiers having their tours of duties extended again and again and them getting fed up with it. It points a critical lens at the current administration’s Iraq war policy, showing how it effects actual people rather than statistics. It follows Brandon King, a soldier who, after a harrowing final tour of duty in Iraq, returns home. He thinks he’s done his duty, but is called in for another tour. Not wanting to go back, he goes AWOL, trying to get help from the Senator who pinned a Purple Heart on him. It’s a tale of broken men trying to get their lives back together and the system that made them that way, and it’s intense. But if you’re looking for a war film that takes a different angle, this one should be right up your alley.

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