Buffalo Soldiers

The movie deals with an US corporal (Joaquin Phoenix) whose slogan is ¨steal all that you can steal¨ . He has moneymaking plans for every occasion in the United States headquarter located in Germany during George Bush Sr time . His superior Colonel (Ed Harris) looks the other way until a new and veteran sergeant (Scott Glenn) turns up , but the corporal falls in love with his daughter (Anna Paquin) and the sergeant seeks vengeance .

The film is a ferocious and hilarious military critical , it's an anti-army and anti-war/protest black-comedy which follows exploits of a woolly and wild US unit ; being based on the 1993 novel by Robert O'Connor . Ironical recycling of the classic 1950s Television comedy series which was interpreted by Phil Silvers and ¨Sgt. Bilko¨ film by Jonathan Lynn with Steve Martin . Movie characters are utterly negatives , they are mean , greedy , villains or nuts and aren't politically corrects . Spectacular images when appear the tanks , these American tanks featured in the film are actually modified German L1 Leopards . The forest where the tank drives through was planted just for this movie on a green field in front of a real forest , though he tanks were not allowed to drive through the real forest .

Here Joaquin Phoenix plays a top-notch farceur and he is assembled by a perfect support casting such as Leon , Harris , Gabriel Mann , Dean Stockwell and Elizabeth McGovern . The picture obtained moderated success , giving a new meaning on the word 'irreverence' and really fierce criticism to Army institution . None relation to the film with same title ¨Buffalo soldiers¨ (1997) directed by Charles Haid with Danny Glover about post-civil war black cavalry corps . The motion picture was well directed Gregor Jordan . Rating : Good . Well worth seeing.

American directors tend to glorify their war movies by adding a lot of heroism and false American nationalism. Buffalo Soldiers is a nice change on these kind of movies. It tells the story of a group of American soldiers so thoroughly bored that they kill time by smuggling drugs, drinking booze and fighting each other. It kinda reminds me of my father's stories of his short yet turbulent time in the army. He keeps on telling about all the wrong things they did to have a bit of fun in their forced presence in these days.

The movie doesn't really have a grand message to deliver to its audience, but it is most definitely good for a few laughs. And Joaquin Phoenix shows a bit of the strong charisma he has in store for us in later movies ( Walk the line- the Johnny Cash biography- as his strongest one )

i served in the army from 91-94 and i can tell you that i related to a lot of the themes in this film. i wanted anxiously for a chance to see it, and last night i finally did. i enjoyed it as much as it is possible to enjoy a film that takes some steps at telling a different side of the army. of course everyone in the army is not like the soldiers portrayed here, but some are. at no point did i get the feeling that the film tried to say that the army is filled with losers but like every other segment of society it has its share. it is also true that for a long time the army did take high school dropouts and it was used as a way to escape jail. it is not anti-american, it is a story about bad people doing bad things. i enjoyed it!

Ray Elwood is a soldier stationed on a base in West Germany. With no war to fight the men become bored but Elwood has enough going on the side to keep him busy, whether selling off excess cleaning supplies or dealing drugs. When he lands two trucks worth of weapons he thinks his day has come, however at the same time a tough new officer, Sergeant Lee, is stationed on the base with the aim of cleaning it up - starting with Elwood dealings.

Of course, we all know that this film practically vanished after 9/11; suddenly America didn't want anything that seemed to be attacking America or the dedicated American soldier. This was unfortunate as the film isn't as blatantly anti-war or anti-American as I had been led to believe. Rather it is a dark comedy that looks at the reality of army life during peacetime. In fairness though it does show the soldiers out for cash, high on drugs and certainly not fitting the image that made Time magazine pick `the American soldier' as man of the year for 2003.

The basic plot makes MASH look like some sort of kids game - where Hawk-Eye made drink in his tent, Elwood cooks coke and deals in stolen weapons. The story works quite well although some of it didn't totally work and some of the characters and action didn't really make sense. It was amusing without being laugh out loud funny, although this wasn't so much of a problem as I certainly didn't expect it to be an out and out comedy. The drama works better than the comedy and it is for this reason it is a better attack on the ideal of the military. The upper levels of the military also take a knock; being shown as focused on rank climbing rather than keeping a sharp military machine well oiled!

The cast is good on the whole - both on paper and on the screen. Phoenix leads the film really well and delivers a likeable character that is still abhorrent enough to be seen as an attack rather than a spoof. Harris is OK but he only has a small role and it doesn't totally fit in with the main narrative very well - likewise McGovern. Pacquin is pretty cool but her character was a bit of a mystery to me but Glenn is well cast and he is able to deliver the goods in a borderline nuts character; only problem with his performance was that I didn't totally understand his character's aims by the end of the film. Both Leon and Pena were good in support and Dean Stockwell has an OK cameo.

Overall this was a good film despite the fact that it had a plot that was a little weakened by the side issues and characters who aren't totally clear in terms of what they're all about. Aside from this the film is pretty entertaining and is actually quite matter of fact in it's portrayal of military life rather than being scathing - coming from Northern Ireland, I have seen all sorts of stuff done by squaddies and am well aware of how true this can be! But to label it anti-American is just plain daft!

This is my favourite film of 2003. Why they waited two years before releasing this superb movie in the UK is anyone's guess - although it may have had something to do with its total lack of respect for the U.S. Army. I'm not sure this would have went down too well in the aftermath of 9/11. Regardless, Buffalo Soldiers is an absolute gem. It is nasty, intelligent and hilarious. It is critical of American values, specifically capitalism in the 80s and it takes no prisoners. This is an outsider's perspective on the American occupation of West Germany in 1989: Jordan is Australian and as a result he brings an Australian aesthetic to his work. But it is also a tender film that is structured around a touching central romance between Elwood and Robyn. I love their scenes in the pool, it is such a warm, intimate location - a perfect setting for the heart of an otherwise deeply cynical film. Jordan is a director of considerable talent and Buffalo Soldiers is magnificent.