Buffalo Soldiers (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Buffalo Soldiers

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caption=Buffalo Soldiers film poster
director = Gregor Jordan
writer = Robert O'Connor
Eric Weiss
Nora Maccoby
Gregor Jordan
starring = Joaquin Phoenix
Ed Harris
Anna Paquin
Scott Glenn
Haluk Bilginer
producer = Rainer Grupe
Ariane Moody
editing = Lee Smith
distributor = Miramax Films
released = 2003
runtime = 98 min.
language = English
budget = $15 million
imdb_id = 0252299

"Buffalo Soldiers" is a 2001 film, based on the 1993 novel by Robert O'Connor, which follows the rogue activities of a group of US soldiers based in West Germany during 1989 when the fall of the Berlin Wall is imminent. It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Haluk Bilginer, Scott Glenn and Elizabeth McGovern and is directed by Gregor Jordan.

The world premiere was held at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival in early September. However, being a satire of the US Military, the film's wider theatrical run was delayed by approximately two years in response to the increased patriotism and respect for the military within the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks. [http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/20035q/id2001.htm]

Plot

The Main plot of the film centres around Ray Elwood (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who is a US soldier stationed in Germany. As there is no war to fight he frequently becomes bored and has devoted his attentions to stealing from the base anything he can, and cooking heroin for other soldiers on the base. To aid his double life Elwood poses as a good soldier and friend to High ranking officer Colonel Berman (Ed Harris) and holds an additional role as the army base clerk. A current theme throughout the film is Elwood's continued betrayal of Colonel Berman, starting with sleeping with his wife (played by Elizabeth McGovern)

At the beginning of the film, the base gets a new chief officer, the menacing Sergeant Lee, who immediately takes a dislike to Elwood and is suspicious of him. At the same time some of the officers who are addicted to the heroin that Elwood has helped to supply mess up a training exercise so badly that they kill two officers who are in charge of a truck full of weapons. Elwood and his 2 best friends on base stumble across the cache of weapons and steal them to sell on the German black market.

Meanwhile Lee confronts Elwood about his lifestyle, and Elwood tries to bribe him with a television. Lee does not go for it and instead removes all of Elwood's privileges on base and makes him share his room with a new soldier, Knoll, whom Elwood dislikes as he is an honest soldier. Later we find out that Knoll has been put there to spy on Elwood and his criminal activities.

Elwood then pursues Lee's daughter Robyn, whom he takes out for the night and then deliberately brings home to her fathers house and has sex with her in his car, whilst Lee is looking on from the window of the house. The next morning finds that he and his regiment are using his car for target practice. At this point it is apparent that Lee knows what's going on around the base, and leaves a hand grenade trap in the locker that the soldiers use to hide the Heroin, it explodes and kills Elwood's best friend.

Meanwhile, Elwood attempts to sell the weapons to a Dealer, who will only exchange them for heroin. Elwood plans to cook the heroin, but knows that it will be a big operation. A fight between the Soldier in charge of heroin sales Sergeant Saad, and Knoll ensues, Elwood saves Knoll and recruits him to help cook the heroin. In order to have time to cook it, Elwood sells out Colonel Berman on an army exercise against another regiment, ultimately leading to the Colonels decision to leave the Army.

Finally, as the heroin is being cooked, Elwood sneaks to the base swimming pool to meet with Robyn, Where upon she makes him jump from the high diving board. Later Lee and Knoll come to get Elwood. Knoll puts Robyn in the car. However she convinces Knoll that her dad will kill Elwood, and Knoll goes to attempt to rescue him. Lee attempts to kill Elwood, but before he can succeed the building explodes as the heroin boils over and ignites, flinging Elwood and Lee from the window. Elwood survives, and at the end of the film can be seen on a new army base, requesting supplies to sell on the black market.

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Main Themes

Falling

Elwood's soliloquy at the beginning of the film states that he is afraid of falling, and that he frequently dreams of falling, and that he acts out his life as a distraction. When he meets Robyn Lee, she is seen jumping from the high diving board. At the end of the film she convinces him to jump off of it despite his fear. This is symbolic of Elwood letting go, and accepting that he has fallen in love with Robyn Lee and will accept the implications of her fathers involvement in their relationship. Soon after, Sergeant Lee comes to kill Elwood.

Boredom

All the soldiers on base are sitting around waiting for a war to fight, It is hinted in the script that whilst war may be horrible that it would at least be a distraction from the boredom of peace. In the beginning of the film, a soldier called Parsons dies and is found to have copious amounts of drugs in his system, Elwood claims that he is a casualty of war as the boredom of the base drove him to take drugs.

Betrayal

Elwood Betrays Colonel Berman by sleeping with his wife and conspiring to let Berman's troops lose the training exercise, however Berman never realizes that Elwood was behind the betrayal and confides in him as a friend.

Violence

There is no military violence in "Buffalo Soldiers", however it could be argued that Lee brings violence to the film as a result of his experiences in previous wars. He compares himself to Elwood and admits that on previous bases he was guilty of similar scams to Elwood. However Lee is frequently revealed to be malicious and psychotic by Robyn Lee. She shows Elwood a huge burn scar on her torso that her dad inflicted upon her by mistake with a lit cigarette, and frequently tells Elwood that her dad plans to ‘Fuck him up’.

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External links

*imdb title | id=0252299 | title=Buffalo Soldiers
* [http://www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/gregorjordan.php Interview with director Gregor Jordan] at Entertainment Insiders.