Middle East Opinion # 9

Jarhead,War, and Oil Fires

I never had a chance to see the film 'Jarhead' at the theatre. I finally rented the DVD and watched it at home. Clearly it was meant to be a powerful film with a message about war. Unfortunately parts of it were made for the teenage, bathroom-joke set. There are several scenes of bucketfuls of human feces, urine, and masturbation. These are supposed to make a powerful film. It is a good thing we dont get to smell films.
It could have been a powerful film, if they had toned down the toilet and jacking-off scenes. And the part about a wife sending her soldier-husband a video of herself having sex with another man...that was something straight out of the imagination of a Hollywood script-writer.
The scenes about the oil fires of Kuwait were quite realistic and powerful, I know because I was there around that time, I spent several months breathing in that smoke, courtesy of Saddam- you cannot exaggerate hell on earth. The film does provide a message about the supposed futility of war... but it only applies in the specific case of the two characters.
Overall I think it could have been a powerful film, but was somehow changed into a silly film made with the junior high (middle) school set in mind. But you never know, it may someday turn into a cult classic .
Cheers
Mohammed