Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.
Direction
Mendes makes emptiness visually devastating.
Cinematography
Roger Deakins turns desert into psychological hellscape.
Acting
Gyllenhaal's thousand-yard stare before any war happens.
Director
Sam Mendes
Jake Gyllenhaal
Anthony Swofford
Jamie Foxx
Staff Sgt. Sykes
Peter Sarsgaard
Alan Troy
Scott MacDonald
D.I. Fitch
Chris Cooper
Lt. Col. Kazinski
Laz Alonso
Ramon Escobar
Lucas Black
Kruger
Brian Geraghty
Fergus O'Donnell
Damion Poitier
Poitier
Jocko Sims
Julius
Dennis Haysbert
Major Lincoln
John Krasinski
Corporal Harrigan
Kevin Foster
Branded Marine
Craig Coyne
Young Mr. Swofford
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Iraq War Part II, it was marketed as a combat thriller—audiences expecting Black Hawk Down got an anti-war ennui poem instead, and box office suffered.
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