From personal experience

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2012)

G.I.Jane has some obvious flaws. Not the least of which is when Demi Moore walks into the mess with obviously no bra on under her white tee shirt. No self respecting female trying to get into the world of a macho, hyper-testosterone fueled job would do anything to accentuate her femininity. No makeup,no feminine underwear,nothing that makes her different than a male recruit. A fact shown to good example when Moore shaves all her hair off during a break and I give her credit for actually doing it and not faking it by wearing a wig. That takes guts. As someone who has been through something similar,I can tell you that not being wanted in a group of men elicits a type of behavior in a group mentality that would never happen if the man was alone. I really enjoyed this film despite some of its problems at suspending disbelief. For example, when the master chief is looking at the exercise where the recruits are in the rain, climbing forward on their bellies under barbed wire, he's "seeing" the action that wouldn't be possible through a scope or binoculars. Another is when each team in is the water and picked up "on the go" as the inflatable rafts rush by. Each male is given help by someone inside the raft and hoisted up inside. Yet when Moore's character turn comes, there is no help and she slips back into the water. She's unable to do it but is later criticized by the Master Chief for not being able to lift her "own body weight." Well, we don't know if that's so or not, as all the males were helped getting inside. There are other instances of such examples but the thing that makes this film work for me is I know how it feels to be unwanted and be considered incapable of doing what's considered typically a "man's job." The politics and technical mistakes aside, the real essence of the film is if a woman wants to fight for her country she should be able to.