Movie Babbler

Jarhead

February 15th, 2007 by Jennine

I had reservations about how good this movie would be as Hollywood has a tendency to romanticise military life. Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) has written an accurate and detailed story about life as a “Jarhead” (Marine) that will keep you enthralled. If you have seen From Here to Eternity, you will notice similarities, differences and how the Marines have developed over the last 40 years.

Jarhead begins on Swofford’s first day of boot camp. We are taken on his journey from recruit to Marine sent to Saudi Arabia as part of the initial troops that were sent on a peace keeping mission in the early days of Desert Storm.

We experience his excitement, his fear and all the other emotions in between. The makers of Jarhead have taken the time to develop the characters, making you feel for them when they are on missions, undertaking training and you sit on edge when you think they are in danger.

You see how the team pull together and work together. They acknowledge their differences while in camp, but get over it when out on patrol. We see how boring waiting to go to war can be and how long distance relationships can suffer.

This is a movie that will make you sit up and take notice of what happens in modern day wars. It won’t change your life but it may change your attitude. I think this is a must see for those older than 12.

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