jar-head– n. a U.S. Marine. The high and tight hair cut characteristic of each Marine causes their heads to resemble a jar; it is an empty container to be filled with orders and values.
Jarhead is an non-traditional timeline based on the memoirs of Marine Anthony Swofford. The movie follows Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) through boot camp and into active duty as a sniper during the Gulf War over a decade ago. While this third generation enlistee battles everything from fears of the war to chronic loneliness, Swofford never actually encounters the enemy. He spends months waiting for the opportunity to use his sniper rifle, and through the arduous hiatus, he comes to value all the brutal lessons taught to him by The Suck, better known as the U.S. Marine Corps.
Removing the spotlight from blood and gore allows Jarhead to capture the internal battle of an actual Marine as a human being. The verbal and physical abuse of boot camp hammering the malleable scouts into hardcore soldiers. Crawling under barbed wire with rifle in hand while a machine gun sputters overhead hardly seems like a drill any man could handle, but Swofford displays a discipline and honor that is rare in a 20-year-old. When he admits to a reporter that he is indeed afraid to be on the verge of war in Iraq, one comes to respect him even more for his bravery and commitment.
Swofford is handed a few bad deals by platoon commander Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), who also happens to be the dynamic mentor who molded him into a dead-on shot. Swofford’s interaction with his fellow platoon-mates strengthens the storyline as each character helps the others through their protracted, strenuous journey. When Swofford learns that his friend Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) has been asked to leave the USMC upon returning to the United States, the boys brand him with a USMC poker to remind him that he has earned his place in the Corps. The movie’s occasional moments of inspiration show the value in being a Marine that perhaps only a jarhead would understand.
Most people do not consider the Gulf War one of history’s major conflicts. But when the viewer sees men trekking through oil-drenched deserts for miles, only to be denied the one shot they have been waiting months to take, one can easily appreciate how major it was in the eyes of the men who fought there. This movie is a solid testament to the fact that a jarhead is far more complex than any empty container.
