Calgary Exchange
Gord's Exchange to the University of Calgary
Monday, March 06, 2006
Jarhead
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Jarhead is a movie based on a book by a Gulf War veteran. Obviously will have lots of spoilers below if you want to watch the movie. Nice war movie! The movie tells the Iraq war as it is, and it is up to the viewers to interpret. Though I feel its more towards the emptiness of war, with the soldiers not using a single bullet and not understanding the war and the absurdness of the tactics of the marine corps. The author did not hide his biasedness, with him saying in the movie that he wants out. Its a psychological movie, with the soldiers doing what soldiers do best, wait (all you SG boys understand rite?). For all the training the Marines had gone through, they are basically not needed in the Gulf War. Not shooting a single bullet, play-acting for the news, finding out their partners are cheating on them back in US (the only guy whose wife didn't cheat on him was laughed at in the beginning of the show for having an ugly wife... hmm...), having his wife send him a video of herself shagging her neighbour, and unwittingly showing it to the whole platoon, etc. All these are playing on their heads, with the boredom leading to 1 soldier shooting some Arab's camels and collecting dead "crispy" bodies. The absurdity of the tactics are also shown, with a soldier lashing out when they were fortifying an area that the planes had already gone miles ahead, that this was different from the Vietnam War but they were using the same tactics. Also, the only US casualties portrayed were that of friendly fire, with their own planes bombing their vehicles. My favourite part is the last part, the scene where the snipers had a chance at last to assasinate an officer, only to be stopped, as the area was going to be bombed. The sniper cracked, and pleaded with his superior to allow him to kill the target first before they bomb the area. Whats ironic is that the guy who cracked is not the one shooting, he's the lookout, the guy who gives the instructions to the shooter. I really feel for the guy, trained for half his life for this 1 shot, only for it to be called off at the final second. Makes me think back on the SG army, and how low the motivation is. All the training, for no reason, who would be motivated? Of course, there are a few who love the army, like the Staff Sergeant in the movie. "What other job allows you to see this shit?", I loosely quote from him. Anyway, many of the author's comrades in the war have called him a liar. Well, nothing wrong with an author using some creative license, but I guess they are outraged because of the bad light cast on the Marines in the movie. An ex Marine complained that their skills were not being portrayed in the movie, but that's the whole point of the show! The Marines' skills are not needed! Excellent movie, excellent cinematography, I never knew I would say such a thing, but some parts of the show are really shot very well.An example would be the part where the protaganist looked into the mirror and saw his gf, very well shot, I don't know why, but its just nice. |
posted by Gordee @ 11:20 PM
