If the word stop-loss draws a blank, then you probably haven't been wondering why so many of the soldiers fighting the Iraq war are returning for two and even three tours. The term, and all of its ramifications, is explained in Stop-Loss, an emotionally packed film directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry).

Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) and some of his platoon have returned home to a heroes' welcome in Brazos, Texas. As Brandon stands looking at the people who turned out to cheer them and listens to the words meant for brave men, he begins to feel guilty. Some of his men didn't come home. “What kind of a leader can I be?” he wonders.

Brandon’s childhood friend, Sgt. Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum), also has problems. Although the situations faced by these two men may be behind them, they reoccur every night in Steve’s  dreams, and he’s become angry and abusive. None of this makes sense to his fiancée, Michele (Abbie Cornish), who doesn't understand his behavior or know how to help him.

Another platoon buddy, Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), is about to celebrate his marriage to Jeanie (Mamie Gummer). During a drunken stupor, he and his buddies fire their guns into all of the couple's wedding gifts.

Expecting to get to know his parents (Linda Emond and Ciarán Hinds) again and find some down time, Brandon is soon notified he's been stop-lossed and ordered back to Iraq. He decides to go AWOL, and Michele agrees to go with him to help him crossover into Canada.

While co-writing the screenplay with Mark Richard, Pierce knew it had to be a woman going with Brandon -- and not one of his buddies -- in order to heighten the drama.

"Most Americans are not soldiers, and I have all these soldiers who are going to have this intense new experience," she said. "The women who care for them are on the other side of it. If you had another guy who had fought go on the road with him, you wouldn’t have the option -- I have one point of view, you have another. There’s no struggle if they have the same POV."

Opening up many sides about what's happening to the soldiers and their families, Peirce handles the issues with emotion and realism without taking a side. Yet there's enough grit in the film to enrage, and enough struggle to empathize with.

The well-known cast members all do a good job of rooting us in their characters. Phillippe and Cornish are most memorable as they occupy the majority of the film on their road journey. He's the wounded soldier who can't live with himself and certainly isn't ready to return to war and add to his woes. Michele appears equally wounded as she watches her boyfriend self-destruct and her friend's lives torn apart.

Chris Menges’ exceptional cinematography captures every detail of the drama and makes it believable.

"I had Clint Eastwood's camera crew, and they’re the best," said Peirce. "Chris shot The Killing Fields and Dirty Pretty Things. Claire Simpson edited Platoon and The Constant Gardener. So I had top level people, and we were all on the same page."

Stop-Loss deals with a tough subject, but it’s done in a dramatic and heartfelt way. Once again, filmmaker Peirce excels at storytelling.

(Released by Paramount Pictures and  rated "R" for graphic violence and pervasive language.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.

Click here to read Diana's interview with director Kimberly Peirce.