Anti-War Flicks losing at the box office

The only thing Hollywood likes more these days than a good bashing of President George W. Bush is a good old anti-war flick. Preferably about Iraq, because we all know it has nothing to do with 9-11 and there was no al Qaeda in Iraq until that Evil Nazi incompetent cowboy of a president sent us in their to fight a war we can’t win and have already loss…Sorry folks just trying to get in touch with my liberal side here…

Although not the first, recently there was the film Redacted directed by Brian De Palma and produced by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban and De Palma made the anti-war film portraying U.S. Soldiers in Iraq in bad light focusing on an isolated incident where four U.S. Soldiers end up brutally raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl. Of course De Palma fails to tell his audience all four Soldiers were arrested and charged. Three are serving life sentences and one is currently on trial facing the death penalty. Just like other anti-war flicks, Redacted bombed at the box office and was a complete flop.

Now we have a new anti-war flick named Stop-Loss. Stop-Loss is about a U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and is awarded a Bronze Star for courage under fire in Iraq . He decides not to re-enlist and instead get out of the Army, but on his last day on active duty, the Army initiates their stop-loss policy sending him back to Iraq . It is not doing as bad at the box office as Redacted, but it is definitely not turning any heads either.

Now unlike Redacted I have not seen Stop-Loss, but after watching the movie trailer and reading the reviews, I know it is a movie about a Soldier “involuntarily” fighting a war that is unpopular. So why are these films unpopular?

One reason may be we don’t need a war movie to remind us that war is hell…bad things happen to good and bad people in war. We already know this, and the mainstream media has already bombarded us with the same themes from these anti-war flicks. They have done an excellent job of hammering the idea home to the point of ignoring any good or encouraging news about the conflict.

These films are predictable, just like Redacted we have Soldiers who don’t want to fight. To have a Soldier actually believe in the cause and want to serve and fight for it would reek of absolute patriotism and that is definitely not going to get you on the A-list at all the cool parties in Hollywood .

Also making movies about the not so isolated evil atrocities committed by the enemy we fight will leave you standing alone with no one to talk to at the cocktail party too.

Just like always though, Hollywood knows better. They know the reason these films have failed. A spokesperson from Paramount film says “It’s a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that’s unresolved.”

So it is the movie watchers fault. It is your fault…the audience is too stupid to realize the war is already lost, therefore can’t fully enjoy or appreciate these films.

Isn’t it interesting you don’t hear that it is the audience’s inability to connect when it is a Paris Hilton film that flops.

But I guess what bothers me the most about these films is being lectured by Hollywood elitists who have never seen America or its military in a good light to begin with.

I think most Americans, no matter what they think about the war in Iraq , don’t want to watch films showing are military or country in a bad light. Uh Oh…that reeks of patriotism doesn’t it…Guess I won’t be making any of the Hollywood A-lists for cocktail parties anytime soon…I am heartbroken…really I am.