jamison
27 Jul 2003, 03:00 AM
Well, it had about as little to do with either the original Buffalo Soldiers or the Bob Marley song as technically possible, but an interesting movie. One you can wait for on video, however.
It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris and a slimfasted Marcia Gay Harden. Phoenix was good, though not spectacular.
I won't actually give the [R] away or anything, but basically the movie is about a US soldier running side scams on a German army base during the tail end of the cold war, thought the plot is less interesting than that sounds, as the scams have little to do with either Germany, the end of the cold war or any of the typical plot themes for such activites like ambition, greed or power. The soldier, Phoenix, is a disenchanted slacker who basically scoffs the Army and it's rules. The movies most interesting theme is really that virtually no one in the Army cares about it, they are either there because they have to be (or face jail time) or because it lets them get away with living abreast of the rules that apply to normal society. Even the ones that do care end up leaving brokenhearted.
An interesting film, at times funny, but I think it falls short of saying anything particular or meaningful. It is not the typical hollywood crap, but it isn't exactly Fellini either.
It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris and a slimfasted Marcia Gay Harden. Phoenix was good, though not spectacular.
I won't actually give the [R] away or anything, but basically the movie is about a US soldier running side scams on a German army base during the tail end of the cold war, thought the plot is less interesting than that sounds, as the scams have little to do with either Germany, the end of the cold war or any of the typical plot themes for such activites like ambition, greed or power. The soldier, Phoenix, is a disenchanted slacker who basically scoffs the Army and it's rules. The movies most interesting theme is really that virtually no one in the Army cares about it, they are either there because they have to be (or face jail time) or because it lets them get away with living abreast of the rules that apply to normal society. Even the ones that do care end up leaving brokenhearted.
An interesting film, at times funny, but I think it falls short of saying anything particular or meaningful. It is not the typical hollywood crap, but it isn't exactly Fellini either.