New look at an old subject, too bad it was filmed in Florida, not at Ft Polk, La.

Rating: Null/10 (24 May 2003)

I grew up in the piney woods of Louisiana, just south of Ft Polk. In fact, my father actually worked there as a civilain many years ago. So that was part of why I was anxious to see TIGERLAND, a movie about US Army recruits receiving their final training at Ft Polk, "Tigerland", right before shipping out to Viet Nam in 1971. While it is a good, intense, unconventional look at war, I was disappointed that they filmed it in Florida. I bought the "budget" DVD for under $6 US, and watched it last night. Very good film, if you don't mind foul language and some Amry training violence.
some SPOILERS follow, please do not read further if you have not seen TIGERLAND yet.
Bozz is the main protagonist, a young man from Texas, who has natural leadership qualities but doesn't believe in the war and simply wants to get out. He also helps some of his buddies get out. This film looks in general at this rag-tag bunch of young men, boys really, who for the most part are law-abiding and patriotic but simply have no desire to go overseas and get killed. I suspect the characters depicted here are not too different from real recruits and draftees back in the early 1970s. I was draft age back then and I clearly recall hoping that I would not have to go.
The DVD is fairly basic, but good. The whole film was done on 16mm, and much of it hand-held, so you get a rather stark, grainy look to a full color film. However it seems to fit the subject well.