[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

I think alot of newer movies are like that now.Not that jarhead is anything new, but I swear ive noticed an increase in "patrotic" offerings from the entertainment industry.


And i dont remember much of the jokes, etc, the main character played, but i do recall some parts of that movie being a bit of a stretch.

The movie -patriotic...?

Again, guys, read the book. It is autobiographic, tragic and a cry from one desperate man's soul. (I've red the book before seing the movie later on) The tragic lies in that he made the wrong decision to join the marines, learning to kill as a sniper - and then witnessing that technology already has outclassed him, leaving him not firing a single shot in war, but leaving it to the fighter-bombers, that do all the business in advance. the tragic lies in that he finds himself being in despair for not killing men - can't get more perverse. The despair lies in the hollowness and emptiness of men's soul being trapped in an isolated drilled-to-kill society that more and more separates them from usual oridnary life, their families, love, women, and general sense of living, which is one reason for the dominance of sexual-related thought and rude language. The rude language of the book (and it is extremely rude, really) is expression of the helplessness and despair of a relatively simple mind that never had learned to express the sh!t he experienced (even when not lying in atrench and shooting) in more educated poetry.

Neither the film nor the book are meant to entertain, or to be patriotic, and do not follow the massive output of exciting, motivating, theatralic war movies of Hollywood. I found Blackhawk to be an extremely bad and propagandistic movie and the worst Ridley Scott did beside GI Jane. So much pathos, so much theatralism, only leaving solid craftmansship in filmmaking to be praised about that movie - which despite the grim story tends to produce fascination for the military action. Usually I am a great fan of Scott, but this one was - bah....

Spielberg'S Band of brothers was more honest in that regard. He too directed the fighting scenes in a most realistic manner, but there was no exaggerated pathos, no hooray-patriotism and america-hero-syndrom (like in Private Ryan) - just a group of ordinary men trying to survive the mess they found themselves in, and doing it with some grace. and this modesty made it so believable, and closer to life. I was positively surprised by the series. It was about a group of usual people - not about shining knights of light and order. really liked it, and was able to feel myself into them.