Film Review - Jarhead

Named after the slang term for soldiers in the US Marine Corps, this film centres around the memories of a new recruit into the regiment, Tony Swofford, from his first days to being shipped over to Iraq during the Gulf War.

His early experiences don’t bode well; he gets involved in a branding exercise in the barracks, and this sets the tone. The regiment is clearly full of testosterone charged young men, not all the brightest souls, who will laugh at most things. Aided by a staff sergeant (Jamie Foxx) who not only has a sense of humour, but also has Swofford singled out as a role model, there’s plenty of japes to be had. Similarities can be drawn with the opening act of Full Metal Jacket, with the recruits being taught the basics, and put through the mill by an overbearing senior officer. Only with bags more humour.

This thread of humour continues throughout the film. To the men, when they finally get posted to the Gulf, they view the whole thing a means to kill a few Iraqis, and actually see some service. Their encampment is like a large boys’ summer camp in uniform, for while they wait for front-line action, they carry on their japery. Of course, they don’t get to see any of the action thy thought they would, and this inactivity dominates the middle passage of the film. This is where the director (Sam Mendes, American Beauty) gets a little air to the subject. Here, he can focus more on the characters in the film, and apply a little pressure.

They’re bored; they miss their loves back home, to the point where they’re able to wind each other up about what they may be up to while the soldiers are away. This prays on young Swofford’s mind, and cranks up the tension. Ultimately there’s a faint whiff of combat coming up, and by the time they get to actually shoot their rifles, there is bottle-loads of pent up aggression, angst and mental instability.

Here, the acting talents get put to the test. Peter Sarsgaard is excellent as Troy, the regiment leader, quietly simmering throughout the movie, garnering the respect of the men, and the first to crack in the desert after a year of hydrating, satiating American film crews, and gas attack drills. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent as Swofford, quietly self-assured, but not always the most exemplary of individuals, who leaves behind a whole bunch of issues with a untrustworthy girlfriend, a dysfunctional family and a host of dead-end jobs. The way he changes in the desert further into unstable, paranoid and irresponsible territory is a lesson in understated delivery. Jamie Foxx, too, gives a confident showing.

Mendes takes all this quality, and layers some beautiful camerawork over it. The colourful cinematography is stunning – the burning Iraqi oil wells provide some of the best scenes, and he manages to present the largely flat landscape with his trademark originality.

What this film isn’t is a commentary on the Gulf war, or war generally. The way the boys are depicted, this will never contain that kind of dialogue: as Troy says “to hell with politics, we’re here now”. However, the meaningless way they spend their days does call the question the futility, even if in passing. There’s a lovely reference to how ordinary their lives will become when they finally do return home that does more to describe how surreal their Gulf experience is. That said, as a sad, poignant and humorous psychological study of one US Marine in the Gulf, where nothing much happens, it remains compelling nevertheless. 7.5/10