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American Beauty was one thing, with certain parties objecting to occasional parts of the subject matter, but Mendes seems to have generated quite a lot of controversy over this little film. It's not surprising either. Within Jarhead itself you see the reason, the bombastic cinematic history of war movies from the United States.
The lead's, Anthony Swofford's, unit having been stationed, hyped and ready to fight are watching Apocalypse Now, roaring and cheering the overly aggressive and entirely frivilous helicopter assault that made the film rightly famous. This to my mind is why certain parts of America have slated Jarhead so unjustly. The second hand footage of the surf-assault is the only action against the enemy you'll see in Jarhead barring one rather impressive carpet bombing. Jarhead is not a film about what brave and skilled American soldiers do to the enemy. It is a film about what normal human beings in abnormal situations do to themselves and to each other.
Similar in structure to Full Metal Jacket the film follows a Marine through boot and into the theatre of war. Unlike FMJ, however, Jarhead skips over the boot camp giving you only enough of a glimpse to understand that it was harsh and it was tough. Ultimately the training of these marines is unimportant. We need to know that Swofford was degraded, broken but also trained to be one of the elite. An STA (Surveilance and Target Aquisition, aka sniper). The STA are those who lead the way for the other marines, those who are by their own legend 'first to fight'.
Unlike the modern Iraqi conflict, however, the original conflict was not a war of occupation or peace keeping if that is a more comfortable term. It was a war of driving back a malevolant force from a friendly nation. Jarhead goes to great length to explain to us just how long Marine forces, the 'first to fight' are left at camp being told to expect war tomorrow. The expectation of tomorrow's war draws on for months. With nothing to do and waking every morning to more drudgery and no promised war the Marines break apart. Instead of watching US soliders leading valiant charges we watch them play football, show off for the press, compare notes on their loved ones and slowly fall to pieces. Some more so than others. Swofford himself more than most.
It's not just the soldiers who are failing either. During this slow burn the film explores the failings in their equipment as well. This is perhaps the most overtly political part of the film. Then, as now, the lacking natures of the equipment issued to the soldiers on the ground was a great controversy. With the wrong coloured NBC suits, with defective helmets not to mention radios that are an occasional help but a more frequent hinderance the point isn't laboured on so much as ever present.
Eventually, as we all knew would happen, the war proper did begin. Saddam declares the "mother of all battles" to have begun and the STA are sent in. Swofford and his comrades are finally getting that war they've been promised and the urgency to do that one thing they've been trained for increases. Swofford calls his obsession the "pink mist", a reference to the spray of blood and other matter that results from a sniper's round hitting a target's head. It's not a pretty thing to want but it is the only thing that the sniper has been trained to want for years and promised for months he would soon have.
One of the strongest complaints I've heard about Jarhead comes from the scenes that follow. Swofford's unit soon discover a caravan of burnt out vehicles surrounded by the charred corpses of Iraqis. A true American patriot said in his review of the film that the implication of the mass slaughter of civilians was disgusting. If only he had paid attention. During the original Gulf war in late February there was a massacre. Depending who you believe the Iraqi army was falling back or regrouping. Regardless of their intent, US air power destroyed the frontmost and rearmost vehicles in the convoy to block either end of the highway then proceeded to bomb every vehicle on the highway. Thousands of vehicles were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people were killed. The resultant images are not hard to find if you google for the name the carnage earnt itself, "The Highway of Death".
The Highway of Death
This is the first evidence of the war Swofford encounters in his progress north. The STA move through it quietly and cautiously incase of (highly unlikely) survivors. Of course, there are none and the unit continues north to the oil fields, encountering yet more evidence of US air power. This time the evidence is closer to home as A10 Warthogs strafe their support vehicles leaving STA Marines burning. Again, I've seen violent protest at the depcition of the A10s' actions but the US military itself acknowledges that there were deaths by friendly fire.
By the time they get to the oil fields they are burning already and the oil itself is raining down upon them, soaking the sand. You may be sensing a pattern to the final climax of the film. It plays like the climax of most war films, with the heroic unit pressing forward to the enemy. The twist is that no matter how fast they proceed, the air power has beaten them to it. It's a point observed by a frustrated STA, Swofford's spotter, as he observes that they can shoot a thousand meters but the pace of the war is too fast for them. He commentates that advancement in Vietnam was a laborious thing that took days or weeks whereas with the air power leading the way advancement of the front line in the Gulf War was taking seconds. The 'first to fight' were the second to arrive at an already shelled and deserted war zone.
With this said you can see why Swofford and his spotter would be excited when they learn that in at least one engagement there's no air support and a sniper is needed to take out a pair of senior ranking Iraqi officers. In an intense scene we see the pair do what they exist to do. They find a spot, set up, line up the officer in their sights and call in to get permission for the kill. Permission granted, they set about their task with intensity and purpose. We hear the spotter's mantra (Fire. Fire. Fire.) that we have not heard since the two were last in training yet we never hear the end of that mantra (Hit.) as the pair are interrupted by the Major in charge informing them that air power is available afterall.
Swofford's spotter, who I previously mentioned was frustrated, snaps and physically assaults his senior officer. I've seen criticism of this too, with many patriotic reviewers saying no Marine would have such lacking discipline. The fact they missed is that Swofford's spotter is being thrown from the service for a criminal conviction and right there, right then was the one and only chance he would have to complete his purpose as a Marine. The war was almost over, America was winning and it was clear. No one from the STA had seen action. This was the first and last target he would see. He wanted the kill. He wanted 'his' kill. He even pleads to be allowed to shoot the Iraqi officer just before the bombs hit, pointing out that nobody would notice.
It's a powerful moment, one of several, that depicts the obsession that is beaten into these young men. The sense of purpose that becomes a need, a tunnel visioned compulsion. It is also the closest Swofford comes to firing a shot in the war. He never gets his kill. That is the core of the film, men who are driven by the fiercest and harshest training. Men who are forced to the front lines, kept on edge for months to be ready to kill. Men who are sent forward to kill the enemy. Men who, ultimately, never get to kill. Winning a war without firing a shot should be a cause to celebrate. Swofford, however, whilst not the most dedicated of the boot camp entrants at the start of the film has a sense of loss when he realises the war is over and he hasn't killed anyway, he has been denied his pink mist.
Ultimately Jarhead is a very intelligent film not about war but about soldiers. It is not about the threat of the enemy but the threat of expectation and readiness combined with boredom or the threat of the self destructive spirals such emotional imbalance can so easily push you to. It is a film about the changing nature of war, the increasing obsolesence of the ground troop. It is a film about the gulf war. It is not a film about action and glory. It is certainly not a film about the current conflict. This, if anything, is the film's greatest downfall. Attempts to draw parallels and comment on the current political situation are forced and painful in a film that otherwise delicately deals with a very different conflict in a very different world. Its timing of release, that Mendes would take it on now when the current conflict is still dragging on, also colours the politics of Jarhead which I feel would make a better film when taken entirely out of the context of the Iraqi conflict today.