TIGERLAND

US, 2000, 100 minutes, Colour.
Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, Shea William, Clifton Collins Jr, Russell Richardson, Thomas Guiry, Cole Hauser.
Directed by Joel Schumacher.

One might have thought that films about Vietnam have become a thing of the past. Tigerland does not actually take place in Vietnam. It is 1971 and Tigerland is the culminating boot camp for the trainees about to go to war. For those who know their Vietnam films, Tigerland is the equivalent of the first part of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket where R. Lee Ermy hounded his recruits, mercilessly abused them verbally in their training and seemed to take sadistic pleasure in the physical demands made on them. Tigerland is lower key but it is the same territory, the same humiliation of the men so that they will become automatic war machines, obeying in the field without hesitation.

What makes Tigerland a little different is the character of Roland Bozz, played with cheeky assurance by Irish actor,
Colin Farrell. Bozz is the James Dean of his day, a rebel not sure of what cause is best. He is insolent to authority, but they can see he has leadership qualities. He wants to go back home, but spends his energies enabling others to get out. He likes friends but puts on a shield of indifference so that he won't get too close and be hurt.

This is a brief study of what it is like when a group of young men are forced to live together, train together, be
competitors when they don't really know each other or like each other. Tigerland is tough.

1. The critical acclaim for the film? Performance? Screenplay? Insight into training for war? Vietnam?

2. The film made thirty years after the time that it was set, a re-creation of the period, a critical look at the period, at America's presence in Vietnam, the massacre of My Lai, the training of the soldiers, the inhumanity, the need for discipline in action, the stimulation of violence, the possibilities for leadership? At a time when the public was alienated from the war and many thought that it had been lost?

3. The Louisiana settings, the base camp, the towns and the bars, the local yards, the tents, the huts, the open spaces and the training areas? Tigerland itself?

4. The focus on the training, the Full Metal Jacket style, the emphasis on discipline, no questioning of commands? The officers in charge, the grounds for their authority? The human element, discipline, cruelty? The officers and their language, the roaring of orders, the confrontations with the men? Their being stood up to? A change in the relationship between officers and men, the move from discipline and strict orders to some kind of dialogue?

5. The voice-over introducing Roland Bozz? His strong personality, from Texas, his having dropped out from school and jobs, running away from responsibility yet his capacity? His cheeky attitudes, his speaking back to the authorities? His being punished and disciplined? His friendship with Jim Paxton, in the bar, with the girls? In the platoon, their talking, understanding each other? Bozz and his capacity for listening, people telling him their stories? Cantwell and the story of his marriage at fifteen, his children, his wife? His injuries and his being disciplined? Bozz organising his words to the authorities whereby he could be discharged? His farewell? The humiliation of Miter, Bozz stepping in, saving him, confronting the officers when the platoon was in the trenches? His discussions with Miter in the shower room, listening in detail, his reaction, his explaining the psychological dimension and Miter farewelling him? The friendship with Jim, the threats from Wilson? The continued snide remarks, the fights in the huts, in the action with Wilson? At the firing range and Wilson threatening him with the gun? In Tigerland and his final confrontation? Bozz and Paxton and their discussion with the officer about getting rid of Wilson? The fact that he was still there? The shooting of Jim in the forehead, his wound, his being discharged? Bozz and the final conversation with him, getting him out to continue his studies? Bozz and Johnson, the discussions about the men, the possibility of his running off to Mexico, his return in the morning? Bozz and his personality, the discussions with the men, with Ezra after the disciplinary conflict? All the authorities talking directly to him, the possibility of his running away, his finally going to Vietnam, his exercise of leadership?

6. The portrait of Cantwell, his age, going off to war, finding the training difficult, his story about his wife and children, his discharge? Miter and his being put in charge, his failing, his being humiliated, the electric shock, his breaking down? His inability to lead the men? His wanting to leave, telling his story to Bozz, wanting to be a butcher, his humiliation by his father, the infidelity of his wife? His leaving? Paxton, the college background, Upstate New York, the friendship with Bozz, with the girls together, friends, discussions, the issues of Wilson and the fighting, the discipline? The leave before going to Tigerland, on the roof of the building, thinking about jumping but unable to? His being wounded, his being indebted to Bozz, Bozz saying farewell and leaving the friendship, tearing up the book that he always carried and throwing the pages out the window?

7. The officers, in the field, their brutality, for example with the electric shock equipment? Their picking on Miter? Their picking on Boz? Tigerland and Cole, his story told to Bozz and the men about the man who was shot in front of him, smoking the cigarette and giving the light indication to the Viet Cong? His discipline in the field, showing the possibilities of leadership? The older officer who introduced them to Tigerland?

8. The themes of respect for oneself, for the men, and for the enemy? The pep-talk about respect?

9. The perspective on Vietnam from the year 2000, seeing the generation of the aftermath of the war and what it had meant for American society? The place of the military, the place of training? The human dimension of training?