Every war must have its war movie document, and though the ground action in Gulf War I in 1991 lasted only 4 days and yielded relatively few American casualties, it deserves its moment in the blazing desert sun. Here, it gets A List attention. Based on a memoir by Anthony Swofford, the screenplay is by William Broyles, Jr. (CAST AWAY and APOLLO 13); direction by Sam Mendez (AMERICAN BEAUTY and ROAD TO PERDITION); editing by Walter Murch (APOCALYPSE NOW), starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Saarsgard and Jamie Foxx.
They have all done their war movie history homework. There are references to FULL METAL JACKET and PLATOON here in the cruel badinage among the troops, from gentle teasing to vicious cuts — not much of the namby-pamby WWII buddy crap we used to be fed. (See, e.g., such classics as A WALK IN THE SUN, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, BATTLEGROUND, THE STORY OF G.I. JOE.)
And there is a cruel difference, too, in the ironic outcome — none of our heroes get to fire their weapons against the enemy. One of the messages of the movie is exposed in a climactic scene when “Swoff” and “Troy” are assigned the job of sniping an Iraqi officer in their colonel’s (a cameo by Chris Cooper) hope that killing the officer will cause the remainder of the Iraqi unit to surrender. Just as the boys get set for the shot, they are countermanded by a major who calls in an air strike to obliterate the enemy. Troy rails at the “injustice;” they have been trained, gone through hell and unbearable tension during the wait for the war to begin. Now, they are denied the “honor” of killing the enemy.
It is a moment that underscores the difference from previous war movies and previous wars: war as a test of individual courage under fire, face to face with a man on the other side, is gone. Modern war is mostly hi-tech killing long range without soul, without honor, without manly satisfaction. The “jarhead” is a proud Marine, trained as a killing weapon in the tradition of his service, as we are reminded — of Iwo Jima and Tarawa — a rifleman, a knife fighter, a member of a unit of warriors. All useless now.
Sam Mendes’ previous films showed a keen interest in the male dilemma, whether it was the useless feeling middle aged family man in AMERICAN BEAUTY whose youthful dreams have vanished, or the father in ROAD TO PERDITION who must kill to protect his son from his own murderous past. The dilemma of young men of our time who want to be war heroes is not an unworthy chapter to add to the history of war movies.
They have all done their war movie history homework. There are references to FULL METAL JACKET and PLATOON here in the cruel badinage among the troops, from gentle teasing to vicious cuts — not much of the namby-pamby WWII buddy crap we used to be fed. (See, e.g., such classics as A WALK IN THE SUN, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, BATTLEGROUND, THE STORY OF G.I. JOE.)
And there is a cruel difference, too, in the ironic outcome — none of our heroes get to fire their weapons against the enemy. One of the messages of the movie is exposed in a climactic scene when “Swoff” and “Troy” are assigned the job of sniping an Iraqi officer in their colonel’s (a cameo by Chris Cooper) hope that killing the officer will cause the remainder of the Iraqi unit to surrender. Just as the boys get set for the shot, they are countermanded by a major who calls in an air strike to obliterate the enemy. Troy rails at the “injustice;” they have been trained, gone through hell and unbearable tension during the wait for the war to begin. Now, they are denied the “honor” of killing the enemy.
It is a moment that underscores the difference from previous war movies and previous wars: war as a test of individual courage under fire, face to face with a man on the other side, is gone. Modern war is mostly hi-tech killing long range without soul, without honor, without manly satisfaction. The “jarhead” is a proud Marine, trained as a killing weapon in the tradition of his service, as we are reminded — of Iwo Jima and Tarawa — a rifleman, a knife fighter, a member of a unit of warriors. All useless now.
Sam Mendes’ previous films showed a keen interest in the male dilemma, whether it was the useless feeling middle aged family man in AMERICAN BEAUTY whose youthful dreams have vanished, or the father in ROAD TO PERDITION who must kill to protect his son from his own murderous past. The dilemma of young men of our time who want to be war heroes is not an unworthy chapter to add to the history of war movies.
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