Kimberly Peirce, the same director who guided actress Hilary Swank to her first win Oscar win in Boys Don't Cry, is both appalled and fascinated by human violence. This is apparent because her most powerful scenes are atrocities committed in the name of righteous intolerance. Boys Don't Cry's brutal finale cemented her name as one of the few great female directors in contemporary cinema. Ever since Brandon Teena's cinematic death she has laid low, no doubt stewing over many more American injustices.

It should come as no surprise that Peirce would be the first female choice to direct a film about the Iraq war. She can certainly find parallels in this real life tragedy just the same as she once mourned the loss of a gay woman whose only sin was loving too much in secret. Peirce takes the same tone of national indignation as last year's protest movies In The Valley of Elah and The Kingdom. All films come from the same perspective: characters vehemently support the decision of their country to invade Saddam's palace, believing that the president has their best interests at heart. Next comes shock and disillusionment, as these characters are forced to eat their own patriotism because of unexpected tribulations.

What's most surprising about last year's anti-war films, not to mention Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, was how late these firecrackers were in arriving. Granted, no one could be expected to make a movie in 2001 or even 2002. However, by the time 2003 came along--and the invasion of Iraq began--the time was right for the protesting and outrage to begin. Unfortunately, the only celebrities to come close to publicly questioning the great leadership of George W. Bush was Michael Moore and the Dixie Chicks. (Oh yeah, and Obama as I'm sure he's reminded us for the umpteenth time)

Funny, but of all the filmmakers I would expect to be first in line when protesting injustice at a time when the rest of world stood still in shell shocked awe would be Kimberly Peirce. Peirce showed her courage and heart with her last film, so naturally she would be well qualified to make her strong statement--in 2003 or 2004. Instead, Peirce took a few years off while America's filmmakers made their feelings known: Return of the King and Million Dollar Baby was America's official statement, and the country was sticking to it.

Now in 2007 and 2008, a short time before Bushie's term comes to a natural end, we are getting so many war protest films. What great timing--when the country is emotionally numb to any travesty committed overseas, and is already looking past the war in Iraq to more "public" issues like health care. Now Kimberly Peirce speaks and her moral outrage sounds a bit "dramatic", especially when the dialogue comes from the mouths of living puppets like Ryan Phillippe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

While Stop-Loss sounds promising in its pitch the film never quite delivers anything but a shocking idea: that soldiers who just came home from hell could be recalled to die because of a lack of new men and overall support for the unending war. Scenes of confrontation are overdone while the melodrama explodes all over the place. I hate to make this an issue about sex, but director Kimberly Peirce really behaved like a "woman" in her timing to make this movie. One can presume that from 2001-2007 she listened to the stories, she took notes from interviews, and felt the grief of everyone involved. (To her credit she did explore both perspectives of the war in the primary characters) However, in being so empathetic and patient, she only managed to make a loud and hysterical movie a few years too late. Worse yet, after a fat liberal man beat her to the punch. Now don't cry, Michelle. Grade: C