Tigerland (Widescreen)

At various points in the film, the commanders in charge of training announce to the platoon that has just made another snafu that they are all dead. 'I'm still alive,' the upstart Bozz (played by Colin Farrell in one of his earliest roles) will almost always announce. At one time, a sergeant tells Bozz that men can't just quit the Army. 'I'm not quitting, I'm just not playing any more,' Bozz calmly announces.

The plot revolves around a platoon at training during the early 1970s, when the horrors of the Vietnam war had been played out on television for the greater part of a decade, and no one really wanted to go as a lowly grunt private. The ultimate in training was Tigerland, a Louisiana swamp area converted into Vietnam-like terrain, for realistic training. Recruit Bozz is almost like a zen master, taking nothing in the training very seriously other than the potential deadening effects it might have on his (and the others' souls). Bozz is a troublemaker to the lock-step training mentality; like many troublemakers, he is in fact a diamond-in-the-rough for leadership, as men naturally follow his lead, and he eventually gets rewarded (or so one might think) with responsibility. However, his primary, self-chosen responsibility seems to be to save people from the Army if they don't warrant being there -- to this end, he helps arrange in ambiguous fashion various types of hardship and disability discharges for others in the platoon, but fails to escape the fate of going to Vietnam himself.

Colin Farrell is the only big 'name' in the film, and when it was filmed, he wasn't yet as well known as he is in the post Recruit/SWAT days. Director Joel Schumacher, known for big-budget blockbusters such as Batman & Robin, filmed this in grainy, shorter film, with no steady cams and harsh cinematography, reflecting the harshness of the training and the unsteady nature of the reality of war. For a Vietnam war film, this film is unique in that it never actually goes to Vietnam; everything is a home-grown re-creation -- perhaps this is another statement on the reality of war?

The roles of Paxton (Matthew Davis) and others recruits in the platoon are played with honesty and integrity; the officers and trainers are bit less realistic at times it seems, but then such officials must needs put on a persona when in such roles, so perhaps this is reflected in the actors' performances as actors in a very different engagement.

The DVD has a few extras, including Colin Farrell's screen test. A fascinating film, enigmatic in its ending and the overall meaning, save to say that perhaps all of war, and most of life generally, is absurd.

Tigerland is the last stop before 'Nam, where Fort Polk recruits spend their final week of infantry training. And if Vietnam is Hell, then Tigerland is Purgatory.

Very good acting in this movie, especially by Farrell, who plays a reluctant soldier and natural leader of men. The actors successfully portray the raw fear and anxiety felt by young men preparing to be sent to war, possibly to die.

The horrors of war started for these men here in the States, in training, where they were physically and emotionally brutalized in an attempt to toughen them into soldiers. I found this to be a new perspective on the Vietnam experience, setting this movie apart from movies like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket.

Definitely recommended!