Jar Head

[dgraves]

I just saw 'Jar Head' today. It was ....rough, explicit. It should have been rated something worse than 'R'. Wouldn't recommend it.

It is a movie about the Marines in the Gulf War of 1991.

Not an uplifting film. Very dark.

[Malky]

This is the new movie from Sam Mendes who directed Road to Perdition among others. I thought it was going to be an anti-war movie. Is it really that brutal, Dorian?

Malky

[dgraves]

Hi Malky,

I guess I have never been around military men in their 'natural' state. The ones I have known must have cleaned themselves up (mentally)- makes you wonder what really is going on in their heads.

The acting was great if these portrayals are realistic. The every-day-life picture of the marine was a shocker to me. You watched each man change, being prepared for war to become killers. Some went totally off the deep-end and never returned to sanity.

The total mental confusion of the poor guys makes you wonder how they survive any war. And yes, it was definitely an anti-war movie. I don't think I really object, it was just brutal if the depictions are real. And if they are real, then we should know about it.

The first military men I encountered was when I was overseas at 14 during the tail-end of the Vietnam War. I boarded a US sub and an aircraft carrier another time for Thanksgiving dinner. Those guys were on their best behavior, I'm sure. They made me feel like a princess, giving me momentos, following me around, wanting to write- All of us high schoolers were invited onboard.

Anyway, it was an eye-opener. I still think there should be warnings for those that might take youngsters to see the film.

PS- There was dead silence from everyone leaving the theater. It was a Saturday matinée.

[Malky]

Thanks for that Dorian.

I suppose when you think about it the best way for a movie to be anti-war is to show war and its effects very realistically.

Malky

[GarySutherland]

The opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan" are a good example of this, I thought. A truly harrowing visualisation of the D-Day Landings. The rest of the film was a bit of an anti-climax after that.

Cheers
Gary

[dgraves]

Gary, the realistic D-Day Landing scenes were graphic in 'Private Ryan', but that dealt with the war as a whole.

It just seemed more disturbing to watch the transformation of individual men from regular guys with hopes and dreams to war machines (hence the name 'Jar Heads'- The military empties their minds and restructures them into killing machines) How do they come back from that?

A lot of violence, graphic sexual content, and sadism in some cases- the ones that lost it completely were probably fragile mentally in the first place, but wouldn't have broken in a normal situations or become animals. The weaker became desensitized to the point of viewing the ememy as subhuman. Sad-

Sorry- guess that film affected me more than I realized!

See you

[Malky]

Just watched the DVD of this tonight.

Brilliantly shot, the photography is awesome. The shots as the oil fields burn are especially good.
It a kind of Full Metal Jacket meets Apocalypse Now meets Three Kings thing. Gyllenhaal was very good and I was particularly impressed with Peter Sarsgaard.

All in all, it was worth a watch but I felt a little disappointed really. It's not a bad film but it backed itself into a corner by being so blatantly anti-war.

Malky

[Jonathan]

I think Jarhead is the best non-war war movie for a long time! It's thankfully not the norm - not "gung-ho" "shoot everything that moves" like Black Hawk Down (crap) - really crap like "Three Kings". Saving Private Ryan though very good is a totally different film and not a good comparison.

If you find Jarhead disturbing then be thankful National Service was abolished. Up there with Full Metal Jacket.

[Jonathan]

Meant to say - is it anti-war? He's in a foreign country doing his job - taking orders - but why is he there?

[Malky]

Meant to say - is it anti-war? He's in a foreign country doing his job - taking orders - but why is he there?

Oh, as a story it was excellent. And all that training and never to get to fire his rifle in anger

Mendes came out and said it was anti-war so maybe I watched it with some preconceptions because of that. I guess that's the problem with publicising a movie. I'll watch it again soon - I always watch movies more than once - and see how I feel then.

Malky

[Jonathan]

Meant to say - is it anti-war? He's in a foreign country doing his job - taking orders - but why is he there?

Oh, as a story it was excellent. And all that training and never to get to fire his rifle in anger

Mendes came out and said it was anti-war so maybe I watched it with some preconceptions because of that. I guess that's the problem with publicising a movie. I'll watch it again soon - I always watch movies more than once - and see how I feel then.

Malky

ahhhh