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Jarhead(2005)
Directed by: Sam Mendes [View Trailer]

Starring the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx who have all played in films that I have thoroughly enjoyed, in order: Donnie Darko, Garden State, and Collateral. yet where do I start with Jarhead? The beautiful cinematography, or the gripping storyline? Both excellent seperate, even better when fused together in this film based on Anthony Swofford’s best-selling 2003 book,Jarhead : A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles.

I’ll start with cinematics. Every slighly dimmed lighting shot to burning desert shot portrayed exactly what the feeling was supposed to be. That is what you get whenWalter Murch edits a film. He is best known for “Cold Mountain” (2003), “K-19: The Widowmaker” (2002), “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999), “The English Patient” (1996), and “Apocalypse Now” (1979). Alot of the shot and angles were hand held which makes you feel like you are standing right there, in the desert. I really liked the closeups. Watching grains of sand hit “Swoff’s” (Jake Gyllenhaal) face in his first minute of real combat. So many wonderful shots and cuts that show the story rather than telling. You can learn more about the technial side of the film making by reading the Apple Pro Spotlight: Apocalypse Then: A Second Look at the First Gulf War

Jarhead had less physical battle, and more of a war fought in their minds. The first 5 minutes reminded me of Stanley Kubricks Full Metal Jacket. [IMDB] You could compare these films easily as I think Jarhead will become a classic just as Full Metal Jacket has. In both films they are put in hell, to be trained for hell. They are stripped of their identity as a single person, and become a team, a core unit. They learn they cannot trust anyone but each other. As Jarhead shows, they couldn’t even trust their girlfriends or wives back home. Jarhead shows the real war in most combat zones, the psychological battle between going insane or staying as what they know as “sane.” There are many scenes where you see the Marines fall apart from the inside out. You feel the pain and desire to get a kill just as they have because that is what their life has been transformed into. Platoon is another great film showing the war fought inside soldiers heads, yet there is a bit more violence.

So what did I think? Amazing, I loved it, can’t you tell? The key to this whole film, this isn’t an action movie, this isn’t a Saving Private Ryan. Well Saving Private Ryan had a good story, but about 95% more violence than Jarhead. I enjoy movies that make you feel something, that make you think even after you are done watching. This “war film” is alot like others in that you are following one unit around, usually focusing on one guy in that unit. It makes for a good story. I especially like this one because it is based on Anthony Swoffords book and experience. It makes the film different because it actually happened, or at least parts of what they show us.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film.
My Rating: 9 of 10

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