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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.
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.

Copyright (c) 2004 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: July 28, 2004
Page Last Updated: July 28, 2004