Some thoughts about 'Jarhead'

While it’s fresh in my mind, I thought I’d share a few comments about the movie “Jarhead.”

The term “jarhead” refers to members of the United States Marine Corps and comes from the idea that the “high and tight” haircuts of the Corps (spelled “corps,” never “corp”) look like the lids on a mason jar; hence “jarhead.”

I had high hopes for this movie that followed the life of a Marine and several friends from boot camp through the end of the first Gulf War and a few years afterward. Some parts of the movie were absolutely authentic. For example, the extreme swearing uttered with nearly every breath is typical (or was typical when I served in the Corps) and the warrior mentality of young Marines was portrayed with clarity. The desert scenes and the heavy-handedness of the tough, yet caring, non-commissioned officers seemed realistic enough and the boredom of war punctuated by moments of terror and violence were well done. Yet, I came away from the film sorry that I had seen it.

In “Jarhead,” it’s hard to see the courage and self-sacrifice normally associated with the likes of those who captured Iwo Jima, liberated Okinawa, and pushed back the enemy during the Tet offensive. In some ways, the Marines of “Jarhead” reminded me of a cross between the loudmouths of professional wrestling, the amoral frat rats in “Animal House” and the swaggering gansta rapper thugs. This was not a movie in the genre of “Sands of Iwo Jima” or “Saving Private Ryan.” To me, it was more like “Platoon” or “Full Metal Jacket.” In many ways, the film comes across as an anti-war and anti-military flick.

It seems, in the movie, that every girlfriend and every wife is sexually betraying her Marine boyfriend or husband as he goes off to war and that the overwhelming lust of every Marine is to kill somebody just so they can say they killed somebody. One Marine, frustrated that he hasn’t killed an Iraqi, desecrates a body that he finds and takes great offense when he is challenged.

Perhaps the only true hero in the film is the staff sergeant played by Jamie Foxx. Foxx looks and acts like a tough Marine NCO who is all about getting the grim job done while keeping his men alive. When the Foxx character says, “I thank God for every day that he gives me in the Corps. Ooorah!” it becomes the memorable line of the film with which every true Marine can identify. Every real Marine has known a sergeant like the one Foxx portrays. And every real Marine has known the womanizer, the drunk, the coward, the crazy, the crybaby, the rebellious nonconformist, the killer, the sadist — but in “Jarhead,” they, unfortunately, all wind up in the same platoon.

Maybe I’m too hard on this movie. My wife reminded me that it was almost 36 years ago since I went to Parris Island, SC and perhaps things have changed. Perhaps, but I was still disappointed in the film, which could have been a great piece of work. Over the past 2-3 years, I wrote, nearly every week, to three Marines and two soldiers serving in the Iraqi War. They wrote back, when they had the chance, about the good they were doing, about the children they gave candy to, about the freedom that Iraqi citizens were enjoying, and about how proud they were to serve their country. Not one complained, not one talked about who they did or didn’t shoot, and not one was ashamed of his service or his nation. They didn’t pretend to understand the political complexities, but they all understood that, in the shadow of 9/11, someone had to be willing to stand up. They were willing, they went to war, and they all came home safe. I wonder what they would say about “Jarhead.”

I saw “Jarhead” Nov. 10, the 230th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. In my opinion, and I accept that others may disagree, the Marines who served in Desert Storm and the Marines who serve in the War on Terror today deserve something better than this movie.