Year:
2000
Studio:
20th Century Fox
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
2/5
Some people might call Tigerland
an anti-war movie (I haven't heard anybody call Tigerland anything, but I've seen
other movies like this are termed anti-war). Movies like this try to
show you how war and military life can be quite harsh and brutal.
That's not anti-war, that's just realism. Watching movies like these
doesn't make me think "war is bad", it makes me think "war is
necessary, even with all the horrors of it".
Anyways, Tigerland is a movie
set in 1971 about a group of infantry recruits going through Advanced
Infantry Training, culminating in a week-long exercise in Tigerland,
the Army's simulation of operations in Vietnam. It's about two people
specifically, Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) -- the smart guy who wants to
get kicked out of the army -- and Jim Paxton (Matthew Davis) -- the
naive writer who wants to experience war.
They become friends and go through the shit that recruits go through:
almost sadistic drill sergeants, brutal physical regimen, intra-platoon
rivalries. Bozz is good at using loopholes in army regulations to help
the other recruits. His cynicism is slowly tempered with the
brotherhood that he finds with Paxton, who is the only guy in the unit
who volunteered into the army. It's that friendship that makes Bozz
stay and eventually make sure that Paxton gets out of the army while he
goes off to Vietnam.
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The film is
shot with a 16mm camera, making it look a bit grainy which is the
intended effect. It's a somewhat low budget movie and very gritty and
personal. This is an early Colin Farrell american movie role and even
playing a Texan he has that Irish charm about him.
Director Joel Schumacher's commentary I didn't like. Too much anti-war
spouting, which I usually don't mind but he did have this superior
attitude that I didn't like. Otherwise it was an interesting commentary
going through the almost guerilla filmmaking process. There are also
some of Colin Farrell's screen tests, though I think they are more
videos he shot with a female friend.
What I liked: grittiness, male bonding, the seriousness of being in the
army at a time of war.
What I didn't like: Schumacher's commentary.
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