Jarhead -- a memoir of a young Marine in the first Gulf War -- was the most entertaining book I read last year, a terrifying and illuminating view into the transformation of a young man from a Sacto military kid into a desert killing machine. So when an opportunity arose to see a preview of Sam Mendes' cinematic adaptation, followed by a Q&A with the author Anthony Swofford, I had to jump:
The flick's a winner (my filmcritic.com review will post on Nov. 4, when Universal releases the movie), but I was really hoping to see some MoveOn-style sparks during the Q&A. The screening, after all, was not in a normal American place where people go to church and hold diverse opinions and barely have enough time to think between their jobs and their kids. No, this was Berkeley, right in the dead center of the UC campus, Ground Zero for the American anti-war ideology.
I have mixed feelings about the current war, but I respect people who don't, provided they've thought their opinions through. I often suspect, however, that most citizens on both sides of the issue haven't really bothered with that.
Many of those opposed to the war and now the ongoing occupation, for example, seem to have an obsession with validating their own opinions. And indeed once the lights came up, most of the "questions" seemed to be invitations for Swofford to denounce the war and maybe to take a couple digs at Halliburton or President Bush. The book and the movie, however, were about a Marine experiencing training and wartime, not geopolitical decisionmaking or profiteering.
From the moments I lay eyes on the woman standing in line for the microphone, I knew the evening was about to hit rock bottom. The wild curly hair, the bookworm glasses, the frumpy sweater adorned with slogan buttons -- she looked like a parody of some Berkeley Leftist Feminazi character as drawn by a loonie Renew America cartoonist. And to her credit, she played the role expertly.
"You know," Ms. Caricature began earnestly, a mournful tone to her voice, "on this tragic day when the 2,000th soldier was killed in Iraq, I was struck by the brutality that the Marines taught you given the current war that our leaders got us into..." And thus commenced two solid minutes of rambling Cindy Sheehanism, which concluded with the phrase, "and so I just wanted to know what you thought about all that, with the draft, and stuff."
Swofford had little to say in response, as the woman's rant hardly called for one. Talented writer and ex-grunt that he is, Berkeley just wasn't his scene. But he did patiently hang out and sign autographs. Nice guy, that Swoff.
Update: From the Powells.com interview with Swofford:
There will always be core groups of pro-war and anti-war no matter what country we're going to invade. The gray group in the middle is where most of the smartest thinking and talking goes on, debating the situation and thinking it through.
Aaaaaaaa-men.
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