Jarhead directed by Sam Mendes

A movie that is more in the spirit of ‘Apocalypse Now’ than say ‘Saving Private Ryan’ –in fact, a sequence of the former movie is shown within the movie itself. The best scenes, the most savage scenes of this movie are the ones in which there is no fighting going on…the hell that war is, is brought out by the silent memorials to violence, the intense boredom punctuated by self-destructive behaviour, the fact that soldiers are obvious pawns in larger geo-politic games, the burning oil wells that gets us close to a vision of hell on earth. Perhaps the most emblematic scene in the whole movie is when at the end, when war is declared over, Jake Gyllenhaal says with in a rueful voice “And I didn’t get to fire my gun once”.

There are many ways in which you can watch this movie. At many levels, this is an anti-war movie. the pointlessness of the war and its violence is brought out powerfully. The effect that a gung-ho, macho culture inculcated in the marines, has on their perspective (especially their blood-lust) is another indication of the anti-war theme. The scenes of the civilian massacre and the scene of the corpse and the horse amidst the burning oil wells are terrifying in their power to kill the sense of that anyone can have regarding the ‘glory’ of war.

At another level, however, this is a movie about the psychological effect that the war has on men fighting it. Operating in a Kafkaesque world, they undergo behaviour changes, show signs of nascent insanity and constantly fight depression against their helplessness exacerbated by the breakdown of their personal relationships (and some of the breakdowns can be pretty brutal). You get a sense of their world as you  absorb the environment in the movie.

The good thing about the movie is that you don’t get bored. The movie intelligently provides the other view of the war – a war that is fought more by politicians than by soldiers, where a marine is a mere pawn to be moved across a vast desert chessboard…

A powerful movie with no over the top dialogues or scenes. The dialogues in fact are minimal which tends to increase the effect of the environment.

The feeling that you are left with in the end is captured perfectly by the voice over of Jake Gyllenhaal at the end – “all wars are different, all wars are the same”

Labels: anti-war, movies, war

posted by Protik Basu @ 12:03 PM 0 Comments

(Book) Johnny got his Gun written by Dalton Trumbo

Very few books can make everything around you irrelevant except the words that you read. This for me, is one of them.

I sincerely believe that this is one of the most important books of our times and the surprising thing is that so few people seem to have heard of it, let alone read it. I believe that this book tells us more about the tragedies of the last century in particular and of the way we live in general. I also believe that this book is a terrifying reminder of all that we keep conveniently forgetting.

The general perception among the lay reader is that the best and most important anti-war novel to come out of world war I is “All quiet on the western front” by Erich Maria Remarque. I believed that until I read this. It has a terrifying and a savage power that almost gets you by the throat at times, when its words probe deep into the reader’s mind and psychology. Its words tear at you and embed themselves deep and wakes you up completely from whatever sort of slumber you have been in.

This book is about Joe Bonham, who is the narrator of this novel. A foot soldier in World War I, he wakes up in a hospital bed and realizes that he is deaf. He is miserable but then realizes that he could have been worse. Slowly however, he begins to realize, to his terror, that he has become a living dead (which becomes for him an unique platform to have his ‘say’). He has not only lost his hearing ability, he has lost his arms, his legs, and his face has become a hole without a nose, mouth, eyes – just a forehead. An impossible case, as he himself admits but which has become true nevertheless…

And therein begins the story. Completely helpless and unable to communicate at all to the outside world, Joe begins to try and resurrect himself, try and find ways to cope. For example, he is unable to do something that we are take as an implicit – keep track of time, which he realizes is the backbone of keeping one’s sanity. After multiple failed attempts, he finally dawns upon an ingenious solution to keep time – with the only sense he has left, through his skin.

As he begins to create his own universe, we also begin to discover Joe, as we go along with him as he remembers the events of his short life – his father, mother, siblings, friends and some of the women in his life especially Kareen – the woman he loved and whom he left behind when he went to fight the great war. Each part and member of his life is remembered in different episodes and across time – from his childhood to late adolescent. We go through his ups and downs as he grapples with his world just like anyone else – with heartbreaks, joys, sorrows and finding love. Which brings into contrast the cruelty with which his life was brought to a crashing halt – all the more cruel since due to his condition, he could not be identified and so it was unlikely that his family, friends or Kareen ever knew he was alive.

While he thinks about his life, he also begins to think (which by his own admission is all that he can do really) and slowly develops a philosophy (which he wants, at the end, unsuccessfully, to share with the world) about what is most important to an individual (the part which more than anything makes it an important anti-war book). He also becomes aware of his unique position – he is one who has, in many ways, come back from the dead and he realizes that he can tell the world a thing or two of truth that no-one can tell.

The book ends with him making a superhuman effort in coming up with a way in which he can communicate to the outside world only to be thwarted in his attempt to get his message across to the world (and what he wants to say to the world makes for some chilling reading and for me, was the best part of the book). He is thwarted, he realizes, by a world that is afraid of what he can say and the truth of what he wants to say. Its a world that needs to lie for things to go on….

The book is extraordinary in that it combines the personal and political beautifully. The passages about his life are poignant, especially his parting with Kareen and when he remembers the rituals at home at Christmas. The passages about his developing philosophy is one of the most stirring cries for sanity that I have read in a long long time.

The whole book hammers through you as you read it. And when you have read it through, the book’s words simmer long after you have closed the covers. For me, it is one of the rare category of books that change a part of your life’s philosophy and something that becomes a part of you; one of those books whose words come back to you when you are doing something completely different…

Labels: anti-war, Books, war, World War

posted by Protik Basu @ 7:39 PM 0 Comments

(Movie) No Man’s Land directed by Danis Tanovic

  Sometimes a movie, if described as an anti-war movie, becomes too clichéd; if described as a drama, becomes too general and if described as a movie of relationships becomes too narrow…

This is a movie that is all that and transcends them. This is almost a black comedy about the absurdities of war. It brings out about a surreal unreality to the whole situation and forces you to almost laugh out nervously at what unfolds on the screen. And the most successful aspect that the movie brings out is the brutal farce that war is, the harsh artificiality and casualness that it brings out in people who are ‘observers’ or ‘reporters’ and it does all this without ever becoming preachy. The war becomes a ‘thing’ to be discussed and analysed for people other than who are directly affected by it. Thats what hits you most by the time the movie ends. Its tragic ending seems almost diabolic in its black humour.

Nino and Ciki are ‘enemies’ in that Nino is Serbian and Ciki is Bosnian. They might have been neighbours in peacetime, the usual irony of war and the fact is brought about almost subtly. They are caught in a no-man’s land between their two sides. Along with them is Cera, Ciki’s comrade who is injured and due to unfortunate circumstances placed on a mine that would explode if he gets up. And the whole drama is played out from there.

What is most refreshing about the movie is that there is no melodrama, no ‘heroism’ and no extended reflective dialogues on the evils of war or anything abstract. The three men are played as the absolutely normal people they are, who are just caught up in the circumstances to play their roles. They are not political and each is thinking that the other is to blame for the war when each is fighting for survival at the end. The incredible distances that people can drift apart and become enemies out of mere fear for each other in the abstract is shown implicitly. That this is one of the biggest tragedy in war is what dawns upon you when you are through the movie.

The role of the venerable UN and its deliberate impotence in the face of a humanitarian crisis is also shown with refreshing candour. The difference in the human consciousness between Marchand and his superior officers (who consider the whole situation as a mere irritant) will be familiar to anyone who has dealt with military bureaucracy. The peacekeepers are shown to be distant and almost callous and escapist with the exception of Marchand.

The role of the media and its inherent hypocricy is also shown well, exemplified by the anguished cry of Ciki at the end - “And you vultures film it? You get good money? Does our misery pay well?” and afterwards, when the woman reporter asks the cameraman - “did you get it?” – which just about sums it up. People become mere sound-bytes and fleeting images.

This movie leaves you shaken not with anything special except the depiction of the mere almost everyday atmosphere and its depiction of an impossible, unnecessary, useless tragedy that only war can bring about. And this movie leaves you thinking for long afterwards. While not being a ‘heavy’ movie, this brings out every facet of human nature and the senselessness of war – civil or otherwise.

This movie has won numerous awards and the reason is not far to see. Lagaan simply was too pedestrian to even try and give a fight to this one..

Labels: anti-war, Foreign Movies, movies, satire

posted by Protik Basu @ 10:53 PM 0 Comments

(Movie) Tigerland by Joel Schumacher

This movie about an man’s fight to retain his individuality under condition of war when every man is supposed to do his ‘duty’ and die without a murmur. Its takes a courageous man to stand up and be different and perhaps more than courageous – mad and eccentric and stubborn would be better characteristics…

And Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) is one such man who chose to fight to retain his identity at a time when it was difficult to remain in the grey area – Bozz is a part of a platoon that is sent for final training before being shipped off to Vietnam.

He is stubborn, non-conformist, unsentimental, rebellious and will not do something just because people tell him to and shows insubordination at every step. He has certain views which may not be radical but which makes him abhor violence and unnecessary show of superiority. He persists in being a rebel even after numerous punishments. However he is shown to be a natural and an excellent soldier when he chooses to be and this is noticed by his commanders.

Bozz is a lone ranger with a side of him which really cares for people around him, which he can only demonstrate by doing something for them. He strikes up a friendship with Paxton (Matthew Davis), a person who shares his views. Along the way he finds a way out for a couple of people who misguidedly entered the war. This earns him the respect of his comrades but ruffles the feathers of the top brass. He however turns out to be an unstoppable force and is given a position of responsibility – platoon leader. This however does not change his position on anything at all. He plans to escape and almost succeeds but comes back his own because he realizes that he is needed.

He saves one last person from going to the war – the person closest to him. And he eventually goes to the front taking his ‘place’, thus completing his pact of friendship. Right till the end, he remains defiant and retains his core being.

This is one of the war movies which is more about the effect of war on individuals than about any ‘action’ – and this is the type I like best (with exceptions like Thin Red Line). Similar movies have been made but watch this movie for the character that Farrell plays – he really gets into the skin of Bozz. And this is as good an anti-war movie as any (in one of the early scenes, he is seen reading the book – Johnny got a Gun, which sets up the tone of the movie).

Labels: anti-war, Military, movies

posted by Protik Basu @ 9:27 PM 1 Comments