A movie that pretends not to be political but, in reality, is is is.

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2005)

Jarhead has two themes. The first is an exploration of the degradation and terror that Marine recruits go through in their training. The brainwashing techniques they endure were pioneered by Stalin, Mao and their sycophants but, apparently, are not unique to adherents of totalitarian ideologies.
I work with several people who served the Marine Corps. It makes my skin crawl to realize that they accepted the mindless dictates of fanatical killing and absolute obedience that Jarhead presents. From now on, I'll think of them as psychopaths and be very very careful.
I was glad to see the contemptuous rejection that a couple of the Marines receive from their wives and girlfriends. The Marines made their choices and became hateful people. At least, their women have the sense to dump them.
The second theme of Jarhead is that none of this works. The fully indoctrinated Marines spend months in the Iraqi desert during the First Gulf War, with nothing to do but masturbate and tear each other apart, awaiting their opportunity to kill kill kill their assigned enemies.
But they don't get to. Seems the Air Force boys with their big bombs have taken care of things. All they encounter are dead Iraqis. One of the Marines wants to adopt a burned Iraqi body as his pet but his superior thinks that's not how Marines behave.
The opportunity to kill someone is what's sought more than anything else, and its bureaucratic denial drives some of the boys crazy. Maybe they should have thought a little more about what they were getting into.