Jarhead: Pyschological Study of a Marine Sniper

Jarhead: Pyschological Study of a Marine Sniper

Joe Knickerbocker, Staff writer

A psychological study of a Marine sniper’s state of mind during the Gulf War. A war movie focuses on the struggles of being a Marine not only in action but coping with boredom, a sense of isolation, and issues back home. Mainly focusing on the soldier’s point of view of experiencing war and the mental strain they go through not entirely from combat. Rather than the film showing the horrors of war, it tells what a Marine goes through starting from basic, going to fight, not fighting and coming home. The movie has a very bland look to it and has an absence of color. This helps display the simplicity and boredom the characters are experiencing. The movie deals with what the Marines go through waiting for there first combat and the sadness of what being a Marine is. Although the film deals with some heavy topics it is quite a funny and enjoyable movie. Seeing the comradery of Jake Gyllenhalls fellow soldiers and their crude jokes to each other and their interactions with their staff sergeant played by Jamie Foxx is very entertaining. Although not a war movie with explosions and shooting it seems like one of the most realistic and believable ones I’ve seen. The film has a score of 61% on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 68%. I can see how some may think the film is boring and pointless but I still enjoyed watching it> making it not one of my favorite movies but it one of my favorite war movies. 7/10