I am not going to sit here and write a ten page review of the movie Jarhead which opened this past weekend. I am going to recommend that all people over the age of 17 go to watch this movie. Jarhead is an excellent film that refreshingly and honestly rejects Hollywood politics and, instead, presents what appears to be a almost-realistic view of the life of a United States Marine during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Iraq.
By noting that the movie appears realistic, it certainly takes some dramatic license. One of my favorite parts of the film is a scene in which we glimpse the pre-deployment Marines sitting in a darkened theater watching the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene from "Apocalypse Now". As the music swells and the helicopters open fire on a Viet Cong village, the Marines are pictured in a state of almost sexual ecstasy. The director clearly intended this scene to be over the top and the actors play along with Mr. Mendes' vision. While my written description clearly does the scene no justice, it is clearly a comical highlight of a great film.
The best thing about this film is the fact that it is consciously apolitical, just like many of the military people I know. They are in Iraq not as Republicans or Democrats, but, instead, they are there because it's their job. Like Jamie Foxx's character, many of the Marines love what they do or at least respect themselves and the role they play. While they are clearly frustrated by the boredom of living in the desert and the lack of combat, it is clear that a majority of these men are ready to do their jobs when asked. In one scene, one of the Marines starts droning on about how they were there just to enrich Bush 41 and his oil buddies. After listening for a few minutes, Peter Saarsgard's character speaks for the other Marines in his unit telling the guy to shut up. Appropriately, he remarks, "F_ck politics."
What I view as the strength of Jarhead, its lack of liberal political advocacy, has driven liberal film critics crazy. Thus, the following quotes from other reviews:
"The film's lack of meaning seems all the more egregious, particularly since even wartime inaction contains large doses of political consequence."
-- Glenn Whipp, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS"Never comes close to expressing the insanity of war itself."
-- Nicholas Schager, NICK SCHAGER FILM PROJECT
Quotes from rottentomatoes.com.
In my opinion, this film is a must see if for nothing else than the fact that it disappointed liberal film critics who were expecting the Fahrenheit 911 of 2005.
-tre
Apparently not everyone agrees with my ringing endorsement.
Jarhead does suck! And I'm not about to waste my hard earned money on this movie. First of all the author Swoffard is liberal idiot. For whatever reason he "volunteers" for the Marines and discovers that this kind of life might not be for him. Well, guys wash out of boot all the time. The Marines are the only service that hasn't dropped its standards. They don't want people that can't handle the high stress. His "ass" could've washed out at anytime before his basic training was over. The last pages of his book pretty much sums his view of war. Nobody is worth killing. I say "BS". The rebels in the Civil War were worth killing. The Imperial Japanese and Nazis were worth killing. And the Iraqis when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait were worth killing. If the first President Bush didn't act Saddam would've had a nuclear bomb by now and the world would've been in real "sh^t". (by the way it was the Army Air Cav not the Marines in Apocalypse Now). Why do you think Hollywood decided to make this film? They wanted it to be the "Full Metal Jacket" of this generation. It's the next step in demonizing the troops.
Posted by: pete dawg | 01 December 2005 at 11:40 PM
Your comment misses my point. I don't know Swofford from a hole in the wall. I think I saw him on TV one time, but he made so little impression on me that I don't really remember it. My point is that the movie was pretty good in its own terms. It was decidedly a-political rather than taking a viewpoint like Full Metal Jacket. It was not perfect by any means.
Like many of the liberal critics of this film, you want to spin the film based upon your political ideology (one, by the way, that I think I share with you.) The lack of politics, however, is exactly what made me like this film.
By the way, if you read the post carefully, you will see that I never claimed that the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene in Apocalypse Now involved the Marines. I do know the difference.
Posted by: Matthew | 02 December 2005 at 11:35 AM