I have never been in the military, so I can only guess as to home realistic this film is. But one thing that startled me was how close to insanity the various Marines were in this film. One minute, one of them would seem pretty normal and the next they'd be losing their minds. This happened again and again to practically all the soldiers in the film...even the leading man, Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal)!
The story follows Swofford from a brief scene in boot camp to his advanced training to eventual deployment in Kuwait during the Gulf War. All during which, he and his fellow Marines were all just a few steps away from completely losing their minds.
This is not a pleasant film to watch, but I liked that the story was NOT sanitized....it was nasty, ugly, and, most interestingly, focused on how incredibly boring and uneventful the war was for the average grunt. It also focuses on the emotional damage incurred by these men. Quite interesting if not enjoyable.
The story follows Swofford from a brief scene in boot camp to his advanced training to eventual deployment in Kuwait during the Gulf War. All during which, he and his fellow Marines were all just a few steps away from completely losing their minds.
This is not a pleasant film to watch, but I liked that the story was NOT sanitized....it was nasty, ugly, and, most interestingly, focused on how incredibly boring and uneventful the war was for the average grunt. It also focuses on the emotional damage incurred by these men. Quite interesting if not enjoyable.