Jarhead (film)

Jarhead
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sam Mendes
Produced by	Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher
Screenplay by	William Broyles, Jr.
Based on	Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
Starring	Jake Gyllenhaal Peter Sarsgaard Chris Cooper Jamie Foxx
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Editing by	Walter Murch
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	November 4, 2005 (2005-11-04) (United States) November 5, 2005 (2005-11-05) (Germany)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States Germany
Language	English Arabic
Budget	$72 million
Box office	$96,889,998

Jarhead is a 2005 biographical drama war film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 1991 Gulf War memoir of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford with co-stars Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chris Cooper. The title comes from the slang term used to refer to U.S. Marines (sometimes by Marines themselves).

Plot

Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) talks in a voice-over about a Marine whose hands forever remember the grip of a rifle, whatever else they do in life. Swofford is then shown in a U.S. Marine Corps boot camp, being taught by D.I. Fitch (Scott MacDonald). When Swofford sarcastically answers back to the D.I., Fitch slams Swofford's head against the locker. After finishing boot camp, "Swoff" is dispatched to Camp Pendleton in 1989, where he is subjected to a prank played on him by seniors.Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) tells him that the senior Marines had switched the hot iron with another room temperature iron, and tells Swofford he has to "earn" it. He then says, "Welcome to the Suck."

Swofford, in the latrine trying to be "sick" (by drinking a whole bottle of liquid laxative), is approached by Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), a Marine "lifer" who invites Swofford to his Scout Sniper course to which Swofford declines.Sykes then offers him training as a trumpeter, and next day, in front of the men, when Swofford arrives late, Sykes tells him to stand and trumpet—without one—then informs him loudly that there are no Marine trumpeters. After arduous training sessions that claim the life of one candidate, Swofford is one of 8, out of an original group of 60, selected to be trained as a sniper and is paired with Troy, who becomes Swofford's spotter. Shortly after, Kuwait is invaded by Iraq and Swofford's unit is dispatched to the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Shield. Although the Marines are very eager to see some combat action, they are forced to hydrate, wait, patrol the nearby area and orient themselves to the arid environment. When some field reporters appear, Sykes forces his unit to demonstrate their MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) suits in a game of football, even under the 112 °F (44 °C) heat. While the cameras roll, the game develops into a rowdy dogpile, with some Marines playfully mimicking sexual acts. Sykes, embarrassed by his platoon's rude manners and poor discipline, removed the cameras and crew. As punishment, Sykes forces the men to stack then unstack a pyramid of sandbags late into a rainy night.

During an impromptu Christmas party thrown by Swofford, who has obtained unauthorized alcohol, Fergus (Brian Geraghty), a member of Swofford's unit, accidentally sets fire to a tent and a crate of flares. Swofford gets the blame because he was supposed to be on watch but had Fergus sit in for him. As a consequence, Swofford is demoted from Lance Corporal (E-3) to Private (E-1) and is forced to undertake the degrading task of burning "diesel fuel" (excrement). The punishments, the heat and the boredom, combined with suspicions of his girlfriend's infidelity and feelings of isolation, temporarily drive Swofford to the point of mental breakdown. He threatens and nearly shoots fellow Marine Fergus, then turns the weapon on himself and demands the traumatized Fergus to shoot him. When Fergus refuses, Swofford leaves the tent.

After the long stand in the desert, Operation Desert Storm, the coalition force's ground campaign, begins, and the Marines are dispatched to the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. Briefly before the action begins, Swofford learns from Sykes that Troy concealed his criminal record when enlisting and will be discharged after the end of hostilities. Troy begins to keep distant from his fellow Marines. Knowing that Troy will never be allowed to re-enlist, the Marines brand him with the hot USMC iron, marking him as one of their own. Following an accidental air attack from friendly forces, the Marines advance through the desert, facing no enemies on the ground. The troops march through the Highway of Death, strewn with the burnt vehicles and charred bodies of retreating Iraqi soldiers, the aftermath of a U.S. bombing campaign. Later, the Marines suddenly catch sight of distant burning oil wells, lit only moments before by the retreating Iraqis, and they attempt to dig sleeping holes as a rain of crude oil falls from the sky. Before they can finish them, Sykes orders the squad to move to where the wind prevents the oil from raining on them.

Swofford and Troy are finally given a combat mission. Their order is to shoot two Iraqi officers. At the last second before Swofford takes the shot, a high ranking Army officer interrupts them to call in an airstrike. Swofford and Troy vehemently protest, but they are overruled and the planes bomb the airport where the iraqis are based. On returning home the troops parade through the towns in a jovial celebration of victory. The mood is disturbed when a disheveled Vietnam veteran, possibly suffering from the memories of the conflict, jumps into their bus, and congratulates them all. The veteran, still clearly disturbed by his experiences in Vietnam, asks the men if he can sit with them. Soon after their return home, Swofford and his comrades are discharged and go on with their separate lives. Swofford returns home to his family and girlfriend, but discovers her with a new boyfriend. Fowler is seen to be spending time with a girl at a bar, Kruger (Lucas Black) in a corporate boardroom, Escobar (Laz Alonso) as a supermarket employee, Cortez (Jacob Vargas) as a father of three kids, and Sykes continuing his service as a First Sergeant in Operation Iraqi Freedom. An unspecified amount of time later, Swofford learns of Troy's death (the cause of which is never specified) during a surprise visit from Fergus. He attends the funeral, meets some of his old friends, and afterwards he reminisces about the effects of the war.

Cast

• Jake Gyllenhaal as LCpl/PFC Anthony Swofford aka Swoff. Swoff is from Sacramento, California.
• Peter Sarsgaard as Cpl Alan Troy. Troy is Swoff's friend and spotter. Troy is from Greenville, Michigan.
• Jamie Foxx as SSgt Sykes. Sykes is a Marine lifer. He is Swoff and Troy's training SNCO during Scout Sniper training at Camp Pendleton.
• Lucas Black as LCpl Chris Kruger. Kruger is the dissenter of the group.
• Evan Jones as PFC Dave Fowler. Fowler is from Framingham, Massachusetts.
• Brian Geraghty as PFC Fergus O'Donnell. Fergus is from Cottonwood Falls, Kansas.
• Laz Alonso as LCpl Ramon Escobar. Escobar is from Miami, Florida.
• Jacob Vargas as LCpl Juan Cortez. Cortez is from Delano, California.
• Chris Cooper as LtCol Kazinski. Kazinski is the battalion commander.
• John Krasinski as Cpl Harrigan.
• Dennis Haysbert as Major Lincoln, the battalion executive officer.
• Iván Fenyő as Pinko, a marine and Hungarian immigrant.
• Scott MacDonald as D.I. Fitch
• James Morrison as Old Mr. Swafford
• Brian Mahoney as Priest (Uncredited)

Release

Critical response

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, registering a 61% rating (53% Cream of the Crop) on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the movie three-and-a-half out of four stars, crediting it for its unique portrayal of Gulf War Marines who battled boredom and a sense of isolation rather than enemy combatants. Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the film a "B+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote:

Jarhead isn't overtly political, yet by evoking the almost surreal futility of men whose lust for victory through action is dashed, at every turn, by the tactics, terrain, and morality of the war they're in, it sets up a powerfully resonant echo of the one we're in today".

In his review for the Washington Post, Stephen Hunter praised Jake Gyllenhaal's performance: "What's so good about the movie is Gyllenhaal's refusal to show off; he doesn't seem jealous of the camera's attention when it goes to others and is content, for long stretches, to serve simply as a prism though which other young men can be observed". Sight and Sound magazine's Leslie Felperin wrote, "If nothing else, Jarhead provides some kind of reportage of a war whose consequences we haven't yet begun to understand, a war now elbowed into history by its still-raging sequel". USA Today gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "What we're left with is solid if not exceptional, though it's good to see Mendes expanding as a filmmaker". Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "But the best war movies—and this one, despite its being overlong and repetitive, is among them—hold that men fight (or in this case, are ready to fight) not for causes, but to survive and to help their comrades do the same".

However, in his review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott felt that the film was "full of intensity with almost no real visceral impact", and called it "a minor movie about a minor war, and a film that feels, at the moment, remarkably irrelevant". Kenneth Turan in his review for the Los Angeles Times wrote:

Its polished surfaces and professional style can't compete with the gritty reality conveyed by documentaries like Gunner Palace and Occupation: Dreamland — or, for that matter, by the surreal black comedy of David O. Russell's Three Kings — that show in no uncertain terms what it's like to be a soldier in Iraq".

In his review for the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "A master of the monotone, Mendes prompts his performers to hit a note and sustain it. Although Jarhead is more visually accomplished and less empty than American Beauty or Road to Perdition, it still feels oppressively hermetic".

Nathaniel Fick, another author who is a Marine, gave the film a mixed review (and panned the book on which it is based) in Slate. He wrote, "Jarhead also presents wild scenes that probably could happen in combat units, but strips them of the context that might explain how they're more than sheer lunacy". James Meek, who reported from the battlefields of Iraq, reviewed the film in the pages of The Guardian. He wrote, "The key to a film about war is how it ends, and if the young man at the film's centre is lifted out of the battlefield uninjured and sane, if his family and home life before and after aren't prominent in the picture, the movie is diminished as a film which says something about war and becomes a simpler story of growing up, of jeopardy overcome".

Controversy

It has been suggested that parts of the Jarhead plot were taken from Joel Turnipseed's 2002 Gulf War memoir, Baghdad Express without the author's consent. Jarhead screenwriter William Broyles Jr. has claimed that many similarities arise from the retelling of common Marine experiences.

Accolades

Wins

• San Diego Film Critics Society Special Award for Body of Work (Jake Gyllenhaal) (Also for Brokeback Mountain and Proof)

Nominations

• Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award for Contemporary Feature Film (Dennis Gassner, Stefan Dechant, Christina Wilson, Marco Niro, A. Todd Holland, Christopher Tandon)
• Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Foxx)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Jake Gyllenhaal)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama (Peter Sarsgaard)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Film Editing (Walter Murch)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted (William Broyles Jr.)
• Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture (Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Grady Cofer, Brett Northcutt)
• Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Peter Sarsgaard)

Home media

Released on March 7, 2006, the film is available as a single disc standard version (in both fullscreen and widescreen) and a 2-disc Collector's Edition. Some DVDs came with a pair of dog tags that say "Jarhead" on one side and on the other side, "Welcome to the suck."

The single disc standard version has been included with a protective silver casing, engraved on the front is the shape of a dog tag with the word "Jarhead" written on it.

External links

• Official website
• Jarhead at the Internet Movie Database
• Jarhead at AllRovi
• Jarhead at Rotten Tomatoes