JARHEAD

US, 2005, 123 minutes, Colour.
Jake Gylenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Dennis Haysbert, Lucas Black, Scott Mc Donald.
Directed by Sam Mendes.

This is a very uncomfortable film to watch.

Everybody has a stance on the Gulf War and the reason for President George Bush going to the aid of Kuwait and attacking Saddam Hussein. Everybody probably has a stronger stance on the right and wrongs of President George W. Bush and America and allies in the Iraq War and the subsequent events and insurgency. Jarhead is a kind of Catch 22/Full Metal Jacket/Platoon look at the Gulf War but, of course, in the light of the events in Iraq. Whatever our stand, Jarhead will be at some time quite jarring.

Based on a memoir by Anthony Swofford, the screenplay was written by William Broyles whose career includes being editor of Newsweek and serving in Vietnam. He writes from the inside of the US. Director is the British Sam Mendes whose work has been mainly in theatre, who won an Oscar for his first film, American Beauty, and then made the gangster drama, The Road to Perdition. He brings the tone of an outsider who understands the American psyche.

The star is Jake Gylenhaal for whom 2005 was an important year. Besides being the lead in Jarhead, he featured sympathetically in Proof and received an Oscar nomination for his performance in Brokeback Mountain. He is convincing as Swoff, a fairly callow youth, alienated from his family, about to be disappointed and dumped by his girlfriend, who submits himself to training as a marine. The first part of the films is the Full Metal Jacket part, the training by humiliation and abuse (often of the crass and sexist kind), regimentation and hard physical slog so that the marine will be ready to obey any order in the line of fire. Not everyone can survive this formation. Those who do are so are loyal to the marine code, the code of the ‘jarheads’ (after their complete haircut), an ingrained aggressive outlook on life that is lethally adversarial (to put it politely).

Jarhead follows the old genre of the single platoon movie where the audience gets to know the men as they get to know each other, josh and clash, form rivalries and friendships and get ready to go to war. Audiences who are anti war and wary of the involvement in Iraq will watch open-mouthed as the grunts watch the helicopter scene from Apocalypse Now and sing along with the Wagner, hyping themselves into a frenzy as the climax with the napalm drop approaches. They can see no humanity in ‘the enemy’. It is at this moment that they are called to go to the Gulf.

The wait in the desert for action, the training under scorching conditions and their ignorance of the enemy (except that it is the enemy) means boredom and Catch 22 situations and behaviour. They eventually go into action – but the war is very soon over. There are vivid moments: the platoon warily holding up some camel drivers in the desert, close-ups of latrine duty and a climax where Swoff and his friend Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) are keyed up for their first shot as expert snipers. And then it is back to the day-by-day ordinary US of the 90s.

Jamie Foxx has a strong role as the staff sergeant, both tough and humane, whose life is the marines. How war films have changed (and not) since World War II.

1.A 21st century picture of war? Anti-war? The US marines, the US military? Politics? The wars of both Presidents Bush? The Middle East? The mystery of the Middle East to Americans? Iraq, the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein? The Iraq war?

2.The point of view of the film? US patriotism and the rah-rah – as symbolised in the marines watching Apocalypse now? The marines and their life? The officers? The antiwar and the picture of the grunts, the brainwashing? The ethos of killing, aggressive and adversarial way of life? The cynicism of politics? The role of oil in the Middle East and for the US? Two differing cultures and their not comprehending each other? Where did the film stand?

3.The work of Sam Mendez, theatrical skill, film skill? A British director and his perspective? The film based on the autobiography of Anthony Swofford? Screenwriter William Broyle’s experience in Vietnam, writing other war films?

4.The title, the name the marines give themselves, the explanation of the haircut and the marines? The focus on the individual marines, the issue of their rifles and their not being an individual except with their rifle?

5.The realism of the film? Yet the surrealistic touches? Imaginative? The events chosen for portrayal? Training, waiting, the marines letting off steam, the encounter with the camel drivers, combat? The visuals? The colour – especially the burning oilfields? The editing and pace? The musical score?

6.The locations: ordinary USA, the boot camp, the desert, the camps in the desert, the burning oilfields, the return to ordinary USA?

7.The musical score, the songs – and the comment on the action, on the individuals, on the marines? The comment about Vietnam songs and the Gulf War needing its own songs?

8.The attitude towards the Gulf War? To Saddam Hussein? To President George Bush? To the oil issues of Kuwait and the 1990s? In the perspective of President George W. Bush? The Iraq war and occupation?

9.The conventions of the platoon story, the framework, the platoon and the individuals, the training, the bonding, their working together? Jarhead as a variation on this genre? The genre from World War Two and the heroics via Vietnam and disillusionment to this perspective on the Gulf War? The range of men, their backgrounds, their attitudes? The role of the staff sergeant?

10.The introduction to each character: Swofford, Troy, Kruger, Fowler and Fergus? The opening in the United States, the different occupations, the close-up of their face and the information given about them? Glimpses of their life – especially Swofford’s ill sister, his parents? Their arrival, Fitz and his verbal abuse of the candidates? The background of the ‘Full Metal Jacket’ training and abuse? Boot camp, the allotment to different huts, the initiations, the branding and the test of the new recruit? The issue of Swofford and his trumpet, being a bugler, having to play the tunes with his lips? Staff Sergeant Sykes, his attitude towards Swofford, towards the other men? The drills? The humiliations, the verbal abuse, the sexual imagery? The regime in the hut, the testing in the field, the dead recruit? Macho, aggression?

11.The men and their pride in belonging to the marines, having come through the training? Identification and identity with the marines? The screening of the Valkeyries helicopter sequence in Apocalypse Now, the men singing along, the pugnacious attitude? The call-up?

12.The transfer to the desert, the screen indication of time and numbers of troops? On the plane, flirting, the flight attendants? A war of the 1990s – in commercial aircraft and style?

13.The camp, setting it up, the platoon together? What they had achieved in boot camp? The interactions, their talk, relationships, hopes, boasts? In Saudi Arabia bored, the listing of the topics, the sex, masturbation? The effect on each? Swofford and the issue of the booze, his being sick? Fergus, his glasses, his going on duty, the barbecue sausages, the burning of the tent? Sykes and his putting Swofford on latrine duty – and the close-up of this work? The visit to the toilet of Major Lincoln?

14.Swofford in himself, his background at home, his relationship with Kristina, the glimpse of the sexual relationship? His identifying and identification with the marines, the friendship with Troy? The training and their sniper skills, the shooting sequences? Relationship with the others? The Christmas celebration and his being semi-naked, singing and dancing, the drink, the burning of the tent? His punishment? The letters, his worry about Kristina, her new friend, the phone call, glimpsing Kristina, her reaction on the phone? The move into action, after the long wait, digging the trenches, scouting, the encounter with the camel drivers and his speaking Arabic, saving the confrontation? The finale and his being asked to do his sniper’s work, with Troy, in the tower, the perfect shot – and Major Lincoln preventing them?

15.Troy, sardonic, his identifying with the marines, in command, the opening branding, his friendship with Swoff? His criminal record and the future? His control of the men? The encounter with the camel drivers? Going for the sniping kill, his being upset, tantrum and weeping? Return home – and Swoff going to his funeral, his lying in state?

16.Fowler, his talk? Fergus? Kruger? How well delineated as characters, their backgrounds, their behaviour, their interests, their role in the war?

17.Staff Sergeant Sykes, his explanation of his life, the alternate life that he could have had with his brother, identifying with the marines? The training? The dead recruit, his treatment of Swoff? Their discussions? His making decisions, the trenches? To send Swoff and Troy as snipers?

18.Major Lincoln, the encounter at the latrine, his coming into the tower, forbidding the sniping?

19.The brief war, its meaning? The burning oilfields? The Americans transferred to a desert they didn’t understand, for issues they didn’t understand, their not knowledge anything about the Iraqis?

20.Anthony Swofford and his return from this experience, writing his autobiography? The fact that it was filmed just after the invasion of Iraq by President Bush?