(detailed information about this entry from Wikipedia)
Jarhead is a 2005 film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford, and is based on Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles. The title is based on a semi-derogatory slang, jarhead, used for Marines, and sometimes by Marines themselves. The film was directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, most famous for his 1999 film American Beauty.
Plot
The film begins with voice-over narration on a black screen, as Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Anthony Swofford, waxes philosophical about a soldier whose hands forever remember the grip of a rifle, whatever else they do in life. We then find Swofford in a U.S. Marine Corps boot camp, being brutalized by a drill instructor in scene reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket. After finishing boot, "Swoff" is dispatched to Camp Pendleton, where he is subjected to a cruel joke by the senior Marines and faints. After regaining consciousness, he is greeted cooly by Troy (Peter Sarsgaard), who says to him, "Welcome to the Suck."
Swofford comes across Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), a Marine "lifer" who invites Swofford to his Scout Sniper (formally the Surveillance and Target Acquisition) course. After arduous training sessions that claim the life of one recruit, he becomes a sniper and is paired with Troy as his spotter. Shortly after, Kuwait is invaded by Iraq and Swofford's unit is dispatched to the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Shield. Although the Marines are very eager to see some combat action, they are forced to wait, patrol the nearby area, and orient themselves to the arid environment. During the long wait some of the Marines' wives and lovers at home cheat on them, and Swofford himself also infers from a letter that his girlfriend is being unfaithful. When some field reporters appear, Sykes forces his unit to demonstrate their new gas masks in a game of football, even under the intense heat. While the news cameras roll, the game devolves into a rowdy dogpile, with some Marines miming sex acts ("Field Fuck!").
During an impromptu Christmas party, Fergus, a member of Swofford's unit, accidentally sets fire to the base. Swofford gets the blame because he was supposed to be on watch, but had Fergus sit in for him. As a consequence, Swofford is demoted from Lance Corporal to Private First Class and is forced to undertake the degrading task of burning excrement. The punishments combined with suspicions of his girlfriend's infidelity temporarily drive Swofford to the point of mental breakdown.
After the long stand in the desert, Operation Desert Storm, the coalition force's ground campaign, begins, and the Marines are dispatched to the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. Briefly before the action begins, Swofford learns from Sykes that Troy concealed his criminal record when enlisting and will be discharged after the end of hostilities. Following an accidental artillery barrage from friendly forces, the Marines advance through the desert, facing no enemies on the ground. Casualties are taken when friendly fire from an A-10 hits U.S. vehicles. The troops march through the Highway of Death, strewn with burnt vehicles and remains of charred bodies, a product of the bombing campaign. Later, the Marines encounter burning oil wells, lit by the retreating Iraqis, and they attempt to dig sleeping holes as droplets of crude oil fall from from the sky.
After the long advance, Swofford and Troy are finally given a combat mission. Their order is to assassinate two Iraqi officers, supposedly located in a control tower at a battle-damaged airport. The two take up positions in a deserted building, but moments after Swofford pinpoints one of the officers in his sights, another team of Marines appears and calls in an air strike. Troy, desperate to make a kill, pleads with the officer in charge (Dennis Haysbert) to let them take the shot. When his pleas are denied, Troy breaks down in a fit of despair and weeps. The airport is eventually bombed by U.S. warplanes. Swofford and Troy linger at the site in a daze, losing track of time and missing their pick-up. With night fallen, they try to navigate the desert but get lost. Distant cries in the darkness frighten them, and as they begin to sense that the sounds are coming from beyond a ridge, they ready their weapons and prepare to descend. They see an encampment in the distance, but on closer look they recognize it as their base camp, and the sounds as Marine voices. The war is over, they learn, and scores of soldiers celebrate this amidst a bonfire. Swofford fires a round in the air from his sniper rifle and the other Marines, who have never had a chance to fire their weapons, follow suit.
On returning home the troops parade through the towns in a jovial celebration of victory. The mood is disturbed when a disheveled Vietnam veteran, possibly suffering from the memories of the conflict, jumps into their bus, and congratulates them all. Soon after the returning home, Swofford and his comrades are discharged and go on with their separate lives. An unspecified amount of time later, Swofford learns of Troy's death. He attends the funeral, meets some of his old friends, and afterwards he reminisces about the effects of the war.
Cast
Posters
Response
The film received mixed reviews from critics, registering a 60% Tomatometer rating (53% Cream of the Crop) on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the movie 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, crediting it for its unique portrayal of Gulf War Marines who battled more boredom than enemy combatants. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Richard Schickel of Time Magazine also filed positive reviews. Other critics, however, cited an amorphous plot (such as David Denby in the New Yorker) and the film's refusal to take issue with the more recent conflict in Iraq. In an interview UK film magazine 'Empire' Mendes stated he thought Jarhead would be his most misunderstood film.
Trivia
- During the scorpion-fighting scene, LCPL Cortez can be seen holding a new 5 dollar bill from the back side.
- Filmed in the Imperial Valley in Southern California, which features conditions very similar to Iraq. Marines did use Brawley, California, for training purposes due to similarities to Iraq. Some of the scenes filmed in the Imperial Valley had the mountains in the background digitally removed. Additional desert scenes were also filmed in Mexico. Some of the desert scenes were also shot on a Universal sound stage with lights doubling as burning oil wells. The lights were digitally replaced with burning wells in the film by Industrial Light and Magic.
- While shooting the scene where Swofford, having a breakdown, tells Fergus to shoot him in the face, the rifle bounced into actor Jake Gyllenhaal's mouth, chipping a tooth.
- The videogame Metroid makes a verbal cameo in the movie. This cameo takes place approx 20mins in to the movie where the main character Swofford and his colleague Troy and Kruger are sitting on a plane on their way to the Gulf.
- There are many homages to the movie Full Metal Jacket including, the first scene with the drill instructor telling the recruits it doesn't matter what their skin color is, Jamie Foxx making his men repeat part of the Rifleman's Creed ("This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Without my rifle, I am nothing. Without me, my rifle is nothing"), the scene amidst the burning oil fields where Fowler introduces a dead Iraqi as his friend, Sykes's referral to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in describing the effectiveness of a sniper, and several insults Sykes throws at the Marines during scout sniper training.
- The quote "Yea, I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for I'm the baddest motherfucker in the valley" is a homage to the movie Casualties of War which depicted a soldier's experiences in the Vietnam War. It is a profane parody of Psalm 23.
- During the Christmas party sequence, the song "O.P.P." by Naughty By Nature was played. This track however was not released until late 1991 (this part of the film is set in 1990).
- During the sequence where the Marines see the oil wells have been lit (approx. 1hr 29min into the film), Swofford, Troy, and Kruger are being covered by oil falling from the sky. In the same frame, Staff Sgt. Siek enters the scene, but his uniform is perfectly clean.
DVD release date
Released: March 7, 2006 The movie is available as a single disc standard version (In both Full Screen and Widescreen) and a 2-disc Collector's Edition. Oddly, the Collectors Edition was discontinued immediately following release, and is considered a rare item. It was available for only one week.
External links
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Jarhead (2005) 
Jarhead (2005)
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