Stop-Loss is not a fun movie to watch. There's plenty of action, lots of drama, a bit of humor and even some romance. But the movie is a heart-wrenching look at American participation in the Iraq War. It's obviously got an anti-war sentiment, but the sides aren't painted in black and white.

I know that some folks will hate Stop-Loss, and some will love it. I'm not sure most people can claim to be impartial, but I've tried to watch it as a film, not as propaganda, even though I think at its core, Stop-Loss is propaganda. I don't think you can make a movie this close to the situation and not have a slanted take on something like this.

"Stop-Loss" is the term used when soldiers get sent back or their tour of duty gets extended, even when their contract is by all rights up. In war-time situations, the President can determine the need for those people to be sent back, and in this case, Ryan Philippe's character is ordered to go back. He goes AWOL, and the bulk of the movie is spent dealing with his reaction to those orders.

War changes people. No one can make me believe differently. I'd say that most trauma changes people, some for better and some for worse. War is trauma at the highest degree, and this war has American soldiers pitted against natives of another land, Iraq, with clear (in the movie) battlelines drawn up.

Philippe's guy can't deal with the losses. He wants to in fact stop the losses. As a leader, the pain of his fallen subordinates eats at him, as well as a stormy conflict where unarmed casualties fell. The context isn't painted in black and white, but the pain is abundantly clear. From an acting perspective, Philippe is spot on, admirably depicting the frustration and struggle of thousands of soldiers.

What is the cost of war? It's impossible for me to count the casualties or any other numerical equation. In Stop-Loss, the casualties of war include the soldiers and civilians who die abroad, the soldiers whose lives never recover at home (and some who take their own lives), the families left behind or forever altered on their return and more.

With no end in sight, the cost of war in Stop-Loss outweighs the outcome or "victory," but the need for someone to lead and someone to stand for the country, right or wrong, is abundantly clear as well. The nationalism is a new nationalism: it's pride in country, but more so, it's pride in each other, and in self. That's worth considering, if you're prepared to struggle through two hours of heartbreaking stuff.