LIBERTAS - A new trailer is up for Jarhead, the purpose of which appears to be to communicate a sense of ‘irony’ about our various military ventures in Iraq. The Gulf War as an exercise in black comedy, farce, etc. This seems to be what director Sam Mendes has to say about the conflict.
‘Ironic distance’ is a favorite refuge for those with no actual knowledge of what they’re talking about. It’s interesting, for example, that Iraqis themselves (or Kuwaitis, for that matter) do not appear to be prominent Mr. Mendes’ film, at all. They only seem to appear as props, or as picturesque figures in the distance.
A little footnote here: I made a film a few years ago with an Iraqi fellow who literally walked out of Iraq during the first Gulf War. He was picked-up in the middle of the desert by an American tank crew. This fellow now lives happily in La Jolla, California, and couldn’t be happier for that original Gulf War invasion. The irony is that he was cast some years back in David O. Russell’s Three Kings, another film that took a black-comic approach toward the Gulf War. The filmmakers at that time were not interested in my friend’s experience, or in his appreciation of his own liberation. After all, the director was too busy trashing the war … and now I’m wondering whether my friend got a casting call for Jarhead, too.
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