thedrifter
03-27-08, 07:29 AM
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Director makes a war movie for the warriors
Kimberly Peirce's 'Stop-Loss' criticizes a government program that sends military veterans back into combat.
By BARRY KOLTNOW
The Orange County Register
Kimberly Peirce didn't know it at the time, but her new movie was born on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
The director, fresh off her triumphant debut film "Boys Don't Cry," for which Hilary Swank won her first Oscar, was living in lower Manhattan. Her balcony had a spectacular view of the World Trade Center.
On the morning of the terrorist attacks, she was busy writing a script when she heard a "big snap." She thought the wind had blown something against the side of her two-story home. It wasn't until a concerned friend called to see if she was all right that she peered out the window and saw the first tower ablaze. Fourteen friends gathered at her home and watched the day's horrific events unfold from her balcony.
In the weeks that followed, she attended countless vigils for victims, and watched a steady procession of young people, including her 19-year-old brother, rush to enlist.
It was in those weeks after the attack that Peirce, 40, knew that she would one day make a movie about those young volunteers who were willing to fight and die for their country. But she had no idea that it would turn out to be "Stop-Loss."
In the film, which opens Friday, Ryan Phillippe plays a tough, patriotic and fiercely loyal Army sergeant who returns to a hero's welcome in his small Texas hometown after two tours of duty in Iraq. Following a parade in his honor, and a weekend of wild partying with his Army buddies, he looks forward to getting out of the service and enjoying life as a civilian. But the Army has other plans for him, invoking a loophole in his contract to force him to re-enlist and return to Iraq. This process is called stop-loss.
Supporters say it is necessary to maintain an all-volunteer military during wartime, while critics have called it a backdoor draft.
Peirce acknowledges that she heard never heard of the term outside of its use in the financial world. But she became familiar with its military use from a soldier she had befriended.
"The way I work is that I listen to people's stories. If I listen to enough stories, I know which story I want to tell. I didn't want to tell a story that represented only 1,000 troops. I wanted to tell a story that represented the experience of a lot of troops." She estimated that 81,000 troops have been stop-lossed.
When her brother was deployed in Iraq, the siblings communicated daily through instant messaging. Later, she would have a similar relationship with a soldier she met through her brother.
"One day, he seemed particularly upset and he asked me if I had ever heard of this backdoor draft that the government was using to involuntarily extend the contracts of these soldiers. He wasn't upset about his own situation, but that of his best friend. That was so telling to me; that he was angry because of how his best friend was being treated. That's what these guys are about. They're about taking care of their buddies, and then I knew that I had to make a movie about this comradeship."
Peirce, who said her cinematic inspirations were "The Deer Hunter," "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "The Battle of Algiers," maintained that she never intended to make an anti-war movie, although some movie critics see "Stop-Loss" as just that.
"If anything, this movie celebrates the military and the military way of life," Peirce said. "It is devoid of politics, although I agree that any movie about war is inherently political. But I had no political agenda. I wanted to make a movie about these patriotic young people, and I wanted to treat them with dignity and respect."
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays a soldier emotionally damaged from the war, said the director never discussed politics on the set. He said she never indicated any desire to make an anti-war film.
"Kim had no unilateral, simplistic agenda, which is what you get when someone sets out to make a movie with a political point of view. She made a movie about these guys. She wants the audience to understand that they're human beings; that they're not just statistics that you read about in the media."
Former Pendleton-based Marine James Dever, who retired in 1998 after 25 years in the Corps, was the military technical adviser on the film, and he said that he detected no anti-war agenda from the director.
"She did an outstanding job," said Dever, who attained the rank of sergeant major with the First Battalion, First Marines, and served in the Persian Gulf War.
"Because her brother was out there, she was only interested in authenticity, and in showing these guys in the most positive light. Some of the things that happen to these boys in the movie are not positive, but that is the nature of war and military life. I can tell you that what happens in this movie has happened to people I know."
Dever, who has been a military adviser on at least 19 films, including Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," said it is not his responsibility to tell filmmakers what kind of film they should make.
"It's not my job to talk to writers and directors about the message of their movies. It's my job to make the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines look and act correctly. It's my job to make the actors look like they know what they're doing."
To that end, Peirce asked Dever to set up a weeklong boot camp for her five young male stars, who were accompanied by four Iraq War veterans.
Dever said the purpose of the boot camp was to make the actors look and feel comfortable in their uniforms.
"I always remind actors about the people who have died in uniforms like this, and these actors were very respectful of that. They were like sponges, wanting to absorb everything I was teaching them."
Peirce said she included four real soldiers in the boot camp so that her actors could ask questions and listen to their stories. She also encouraged the actors to watch videos made my soldiers in Iraq, and to speak with soldiers whenever they could.
One of the actors, Victor Rasuk, met a disabled veteran who suffered the same injuries as his character. The actor said he was stunned by the absence of bitterness.
"I was nervous about meeting him because I thought he would be angry and bitter, but he was totally optimistic," Rasuk recalled. "The only thing he was angry about was that he had left his friends behind and desperately wanted to rejoin them. Man, that gave me a whole new perspective on life."
Peirce said she made her movie for an audience of young men and women just like the soldier.
"I'm an old-fashioned entertainer who believes that it is all about the audience. If the general public likes my movie, that would be wonderful. But I want even more for the soldiers to like it. I want them to feel as if I have portrayed them with the dignity and respect they deserve.
"They are the only critics I care about on this movie."
Contact the writer: 714-796-5051, ext. 1110, or bkoltnow@ocregister.com
Ellie
Director makes a war movie for the warriors
Kimberly Peirce's 'Stop-Loss' criticizes a government program that sends military veterans back into combat.
By BARRY KOLTNOW
The Orange County Register
Kimberly Peirce didn't know it at the time, but her new movie was born on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
The director, fresh off her triumphant debut film "Boys Don't Cry," for which Hilary Swank won her first Oscar, was living in lower Manhattan. Her balcony had a spectacular view of the World Trade Center.
On the morning of the terrorist attacks, she was busy writing a script when she heard a "big snap." She thought the wind had blown something against the side of her two-story home. It wasn't until a concerned friend called to see if she was all right that she peered out the window and saw the first tower ablaze. Fourteen friends gathered at her home and watched the day's horrific events unfold from her balcony.
In the weeks that followed, she attended countless vigils for victims, and watched a steady procession of young people, including her 19-year-old brother, rush to enlist.
It was in those weeks after the attack that Peirce, 40, knew that she would one day make a movie about those young volunteers who were willing to fight and die for their country. But she had no idea that it would turn out to be "Stop-Loss."
In the film, which opens Friday, Ryan Phillippe plays a tough, patriotic and fiercely loyal Army sergeant who returns to a hero's welcome in his small Texas hometown after two tours of duty in Iraq. Following a parade in his honor, and a weekend of wild partying with his Army buddies, he looks forward to getting out of the service and enjoying life as a civilian. But the Army has other plans for him, invoking a loophole in his contract to force him to re-enlist and return to Iraq. This process is called stop-loss.
Supporters say it is necessary to maintain an all-volunteer military during wartime, while critics have called it a backdoor draft.
Peirce acknowledges that she heard never heard of the term outside of its use in the financial world. But she became familiar with its military use from a soldier she had befriended.
"The way I work is that I listen to people's stories. If I listen to enough stories, I know which story I want to tell. I didn't want to tell a story that represented only 1,000 troops. I wanted to tell a story that represented the experience of a lot of troops." She estimated that 81,000 troops have been stop-lossed.
When her brother was deployed in Iraq, the siblings communicated daily through instant messaging. Later, she would have a similar relationship with a soldier she met through her brother.
"One day, he seemed particularly upset and he asked me if I had ever heard of this backdoor draft that the government was using to involuntarily extend the contracts of these soldiers. He wasn't upset about his own situation, but that of his best friend. That was so telling to me; that he was angry because of how his best friend was being treated. That's what these guys are about. They're about taking care of their buddies, and then I knew that I had to make a movie about this comradeship."
Peirce, who said her cinematic inspirations were "The Deer Hunter," "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "The Battle of Algiers," maintained that she never intended to make an anti-war movie, although some movie critics see "Stop-Loss" as just that.
"If anything, this movie celebrates the military and the military way of life," Peirce said. "It is devoid of politics, although I agree that any movie about war is inherently political. But I had no political agenda. I wanted to make a movie about these patriotic young people, and I wanted to treat them with dignity and respect."
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays a soldier emotionally damaged from the war, said the director never discussed politics on the set. He said she never indicated any desire to make an anti-war film.
"Kim had no unilateral, simplistic agenda, which is what you get when someone sets out to make a movie with a political point of view. She made a movie about these guys. She wants the audience to understand that they're human beings; that they're not just statistics that you read about in the media."
Former Pendleton-based Marine James Dever, who retired in 1998 after 25 years in the Corps, was the military technical adviser on the film, and he said that he detected no anti-war agenda from the director.
"She did an outstanding job," said Dever, who attained the rank of sergeant major with the First Battalion, First Marines, and served in the Persian Gulf War.
"Because her brother was out there, she was only interested in authenticity, and in showing these guys in the most positive light. Some of the things that happen to these boys in the movie are not positive, but that is the nature of war and military life. I can tell you that what happens in this movie has happened to people I know."
Dever, who has been a military adviser on at least 19 films, including Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," said it is not his responsibility to tell filmmakers what kind of film they should make.
"It's not my job to talk to writers and directors about the message of their movies. It's my job to make the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines look and act correctly. It's my job to make the actors look like they know what they're doing."
To that end, Peirce asked Dever to set up a weeklong boot camp for her five young male stars, who were accompanied by four Iraq War veterans.
Dever said the purpose of the boot camp was to make the actors look and feel comfortable in their uniforms.
"I always remind actors about the people who have died in uniforms like this, and these actors were very respectful of that. They were like sponges, wanting to absorb everything I was teaching them."
Peirce said she included four real soldiers in the boot camp so that her actors could ask questions and listen to their stories. She also encouraged the actors to watch videos made my soldiers in Iraq, and to speak with soldiers whenever they could.
One of the actors, Victor Rasuk, met a disabled veteran who suffered the same injuries as his character. The actor said he was stunned by the absence of bitterness.
"I was nervous about meeting him because I thought he would be angry and bitter, but he was totally optimistic," Rasuk recalled. "The only thing he was angry about was that he had left his friends behind and desperately wanted to rejoin them. Man, that gave me a whole new perspective on life."
Peirce said she made her movie for an audience of young men and women just like the soldier.
"I'm an old-fashioned entertainer who believes that it is all about the audience. If the general public likes my movie, that would be wonderful. But I want even more for the soldiers to like it. I want them to feel as if I have portrayed them with the dignity and respect they deserve.
"They are the only critics I care about on this movie."
Contact the writer: 714-796-5051, ext. 1110, or bkoltnow@ocregister.com
Ellie