Jarhead

I watched Jarhead with Jake Gylllenhaal tonight. I had not seen it up until this point because the one scene I had watched had him shoving a gun into the face of one of his own men and acting like he was out of his mind. I thought there was a chance the entire movie was going to be like this. When I think a movie is going to be depressing it makes it hard to make the decision to watch it. I still haven't seen Maria Full of Grace, even though it looks like a great movie, because of the depressing subject.

Jarhead was an amazing movie. If No Country for Old Men had not come out recently Jarhead would have been the best movie I had scene in a very long time. It was laugh out loud funny in the way few dramas ever are (Pulp Fiction is my vote for funniest drama).

The music was incredible, the score was superb and the period music was chosen perfectly. There is a great scene of soldiers getting drunk and singing O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature. This movie also gets my vote for best use of a Nirvana song (my runner up is smells like teen spirit in Moulin Rouge).

There were several nods to the great war movies of the past. There is a great scene with a theatre full of soldiers singing Flight of the Valkyries while watching Apocalypse Now.

This movie really struck me for two main reasons. I really miss the early nineties, my favorite year is 1993, and I feel I will always have one foot stuck in this period the way a lot of people who work in corporations or sell cars still have a little bit of 1968 still left in them.

Jarhead also reminds me of the time following 9/11 when I was torn about entering the military. If I was going to fight for my country that was going to be the time. I just could not bring myself to do it. A lot of my problem was not wanting to die, but the bigger problem is my contempt for authority. I have never been any good at letting people tell me what to do and it seems like there is nothing but people telling you what to do in the military.

Go rent Jarhead.