David McRaney  |  Journalist

'Jarhead' provides dramatic vertigo

I love war movies.

Whether they are the old World War II epics withstock footage of bombing runs in place of special effects or intense psychological journeys about Vietnam grunts trying to cope, I love thedrama of war.

With a Vietnam vet for a father, I grew up watching Vietnam movies. Most are anti-war in the way that any rational personwould understand.

In war, only what is real matters. The fat of thesoul is burned away, as Hemingway said, and one of the characters in"Jarhead" makes note of it.

That's why it is hard for me to decide whether or not I like the latest movie from Sam Mendes. In many ways, the idea behind the movie based on Anthony Swofford's book is that in today's America, war is not only  futile. It is a void where nothing from the world back home has meaning. It is a place where you can getlost in both fear and boredom.

"Jarhead" attempts to approach war from anew place - anomie. Yet, so much happens in "Jarhead"  it seems less a war movie and more like a sporadically updated blog from thedesert.

Issues about mistreatment in boot camp, war vets who can't parent, lies from the government, war for oil, poorly trained and equipped soldiers, frat guy soldiers who convince the world to hate us and girlfriends who leave you when you need them most spew from every corner of the movie, one after the other. After an hour or so of this,some will begin to wonder what the point of this movie really is.

That's why I can't decide if I should love this movie. If the director intended for me to have this sense of dramatic vertigo for the length of the piece in an attempt to portray the idea  war is a meaningless mish-mash of ridiculous and laughable human folly -“ thenOK, that's impressive in a way.

On the other hand, if this is one ofthose movies where Hollywood is trying to stuff a story that takes a day or two to read into a two-hour movie by deleting some things and inflating others -“ then I'd rather read the book, because "Jarhead,"in the end, was missing something important.

We never learn why the central character, Swofford, is in this mess, or what he learns from it. The movie suggests  he just fell into the marines and hates being there, but by the end of the film he has been defined by theexperience, and somehow the audience was left out of the loop.

In "AllQuiet on the Western Front" a group of recruits train and prepare for war with their heads full of patriotism and youthful zeal only to find out later  war is hell, and they will never be the same afterward.

This is the kind of story that can be told through action alone.

In"Jarhead" a group of recruits train and prepare for war with their heads full of conflicting ideas about what life is all about and youthful zeal only to find out that war is stupid and they will neverbe the same afterward.

This is the kind of story that has no action, and as a movie that can be tedious.

Though beautifully acted by Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx, this is not the movie about the Gulf War  we've been waiting for. So far, "Three Kings" still wears that crown.

But, it tries very hard to be and succeeds sporadically. The main character, Swofford, says toward the end of the movie, "All wars are different; all wars are the same." The same can be said for war movies. You'll be reminded of every great war movie you have ever seen as the film progresses. Sadly, you will compare what should have been a unique take on the whole business of war with each one.

Originally published in The Student Printz on November 8, 2005