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| Directed by Sam Mendes |
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| Jake Gyllenhaal |
Jamie Foxx |
| Peter Sarsgaard |
Chris Cooper |
| Dennis Haysbert |
Brianne Davis |
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| Young Marine sniper does soul searching during Desert Storm. |
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| One Word View: Insightful |
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Based on Marine sniper Anthony Swofford’s memoirs, Jarhead explores the war within the mind of the soldier versus that which is going on in the battlefield to spare the oil. Swoff (Jake) joins the Marines following in the path of his father and grandfather. With vestiges of Camus still floating in his brain, the twenty-year-old meets brash Sergeant Sykes (Jamie) and finds his calling – that of a military sniper. Quickly initiated by Troy (Peter) and the rest, Swoff tries to maintain his sanity as war approaches and the love of his life departs.
Unlike the in-your-face brutality shown in Full Metal Jacket (1987), Casualties of War (1989) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), Jarhead is not really a war movie; it’s more of a war preparation movie. There are about 10-15 minutes of battle that take place on the periphery of the story and not enough corpses to make one cringe.
It is not about the effect of war on the body, but the rather the mind and the soul. Accordingly, we get to peek inside Swoff’s head and those of his fellow snipers as they worry about the girls and changing world behind them, as well as what lies ahead in Operation Desert Storm, then Shield. Each has joined the military for a different reason and not all agree with the politics, but everyone is proud to be a Marine and is eager to make that kill. The problem is, after nearly 6 months in the desert, none of them has killed a thing, with the exception of innocent camels. And while some of the guys are pretty despicable, they are not cold-blooded killers. Yet in their uniforms with rifles in hand, they do crave that taste of the enemy’s blood. As this desire fails to be satiated, it impacts the men’s lives in various ways, which makes Jarhead a drama with a comical twist. |
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