

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
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.