Army Go Home!

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.

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.

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!

I was in the Army stationed in Germany from 1986 through 1989 and there was a day that we called "Black Sunday" when several people on our post were discovered to have a drug ring going on. The people implicated and taken away by MPs that day included several officers. My post was known for being able to get everything from hooker to heroin ON POST! Our Sgt,. Major walked around with an ax handle tethered to his wrist because he had been jumped at night so many times! So this movie is not a joke and is very close to the truth. There was even a second lieutenant that was murdered by putting him in a wall locker and pushing it out of a third story window. There was also times when you could not walk past some buildings or windows if you were white or black depending on which window and what color you were because of racial tensions, sometimes you might be hit by a beer bottle by someone of the opposite color. This movie very closely depicts what it was like vbeing a soldier in the US Army staioned in West Germany at the end of the cold war. Hooah!

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 )