Stop Loss

We (and another friend, Ken (see his flickr account under khugokim)) went to see Stop Loss on Saturday. It was a hard movie to watch. It was a well-done movie, but deeper than that, I connected the very real stories and emotions to what I've seen at the VA. The director quoted scenes from The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, and Born on the Fourth of July, reminding us that we are are another generation who must care for our returning veterans, and warning us not to make the same mistakes of our parents' generation. And you know, I thought In the Valley of Elah was a damn good movie. I didn't see any of the other ones. Elah captured something horrific (and frankly, the best stories I saw in it were the harassment faced by the female detective, and the side story about the wife who complained about her dog being abused. What I took from this movie was that young men and women are deeply injured by what happens in war. But Stop Loss, I think, captures an everyday truth that Elah did not.
Yes, I cried.