War. What is it good for?

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2006)

'Jarhead', the latest offering from 'American Beauty' director Sam Mendes is an odd compote. In part it tries to emulate Altman's 'MASH', emphasising the juvenile testosterone fuelled antics of a close-knit group of servicemen in combat, and in the long days and weeks of tedium which occupy most of their times. Oddly - save for a few almost throwaway observations on the reasons for baby-sitting the oil-fields of Said - politics is pretty much kept out of the picture. This is a problem. How can a film set during the first Gulf War, where the indigenous populations of the occupied or protected territories are routinely referred to as 'Rag Heads', be considered without a political context? No doubt this reluctance to weigh his characters down with conflict-specific political baggage is intended to emphasise the universality of the old adage that War Is Hell, but without this context the characters become little more than military-movie archetypes: the sensitive but patriotic hero who discovers the army isn't what he thought it would be, the weedy grunt, the badass career soldier, the redneck, etc., etc.. This is a shame, as there are some very good performances here. Jake Gyllenhaal is an engaging leading man, bringing to mind, at times, a young Alan Arkin in 'Catch 22', and Peter Sarksgaard is excellently focused (if, as ever, slightly creepy) as his Scout Sniper partner. They are, however, working with an undemanding script. It's very stylish and impressively filmed  but it lacks the intensity of the (oft referenced) 'Apocalypse Now', the surreal nightmarish quality of 'Catch 22', or the bittersweet satire of 'MASH'. A good film which descends all-too-suddenly into sentiment in it's final act, determined to make a point  but not sure what point it wants to make.