Man's estate

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2006)

You are born, grow up, go to school and then instead of going to college you go to a recruitment center to enlist in the marines, become morally and physically subject to the worst and most abject violent acts executed by superiors and comrades upon you, become a marine (a jarhead), are sent to the "suck" i. e. the war, kill and are killed (or not) and finally come back home (or not) to lead the same meaningless life staying a jarhead on your mind for the rest of your life. That's what this movie is about, that's what it shows us through excellent images, dialogues and monologues. And if the second part appears a bit duller than the first one this is not the fault of the movie it's because marines' lives in the desert during the first Gulf War were dull indeed. Some of them never had the opportunity to let off their guns. Despite lacking some specially dramatic or epic scenes like other war movies, the message it conveys is not less true or effective.