Buffalo Soldiers (2003)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Some things I liked some I did not.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The anti-American theme would appeal to Germans. I was there before the time of this move in the mid 80s in West Germany and I liked it. I was in the Air Force but we had Army on base and I went to Army bases too and there was no drug use in uniform or widespread black market selling of weapons or anything else! Drug use off duty by some and domestic abuse problems yes because enlisted were not paid much...kind of like living in a government housing project except in Germany! Yuk. There are fewer bases now but more or less the same thing. I know many people including myself who loved Europe. Too many ugly Americans and our dam fast food over there!

The story about soldiers in a midst of a peacetime really proves to be an excellent example of a darkly humorous crime story.The story is set in 1989 on the American Army base. It is a period of stagnation in army; there is no one to fight with, and soldiers try to spend their free time by all ways and means they prefer.The main character is an ingenious clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix; gorgeous, simply gorgeous) who tries to get profit from everything that is available in the base. His problems start when the new top sergeant Robert Lee (played extremely well by Scott Glenn) who appears to be a Vietnam veteran, prevents poor Ray from making an important deal and tries to make his life hell and even worse when he finds out about close relationship between Ray and sergeant's daughter.The screenplay is based on the novel written by Robert Connor. Undeniably, the modish anti-military skit, pure black army humor, breathtaking story about cynical (mis)adventures of dashing Yankees in the Western Germany, when the soldiers have their heads in the clouds of homemade heroine - all that makes the movie incredibly good. Equally good are professionally filmed close-ups and long shots.Another remarkable feature of the movie is the soundtrack. De la Soul performance suits incredibly well.In spite of the success of the movie in Europe, in the US the first showing was in the wrong time - in 8th of September, 2001. After the 11th of September it was furtively shown only in 24 cinemas, and was a box-office disaster.The most remarkable character in the movie is beyond doubts Ray Elwood. He is a very contradictory character; he is at the same time cynic and in despair, fable and strong, enjoying life and losing his face, tormented by discrepancies. The lead is portrayed awesomely by Joaquin Phoenix. Ed Harris, as usually, shows very enjoyable high-class performance. Also I like the performance by Gabriel Mann; it is a minor role, though quite noticeable. I do not like Anna Paquin in this role; she unnaturally has tried to be intense and alluring.On the whole, the movie, being at the same time funny, serious and sad, is perfect, and it is worth watching at least because of the outstanding performance of Joaquin Phoenix in one of his best roles.

If you've ever been in the military you will love this movie. It's basically a Sargent Bilko without the slapstick.Covers the more seedy side of military life and has some great jokes, plot twists and one liners.Elwood is the classic E-4 and gets up to all kinds of crazy stuff. Hes basically running a lot of little schemes from his position as one of the Battalion Commanders trusted office personnel.But Elwoods life takes a turn for the worst when a new First Sargent that takes no BS is assigned to his unit and threatens to undermine Elwoods little operations.

Without an enemy to fight, an army will fight itself or find its own enemies. In the tradition of "Sergeant Bilko" (the Phil Silvers TV show, not Steve Martin's ghastly remake) "Buffalo Soldiers" shows what happens when soldiers with nothing to do but wait for war begin to think for themselves and exploit the system. In place of Bilko's poker games and lottery scams, Ray Elwood opts for black marketeering, drug dealing and gun running. However, the characters portrayed by Phil Silvers and Joaquin Phoenix respectively do have a lot in common. The tone of "Buffalo Soldiers" is much darker than that of "Sergeant Bilko", but the film and TV series share the same absurd yet plausible vision. There are no chimpanzee conscripts like Private Harry Speakup in this movie, but there ARE characters who have clearly risen well above the level of their own incompetence. Ed Harris' Colonel Berman is a pathetic example of the uniformed, time-served bureaucrat, someone you could almost feel sorry for until you realise that one day he may have to lead men into combat. Counterbalancing the Bilko-esquire vibe created by Elwood's wheeler-dealing is his nemesis, Scott Glenn's steely Sergeant Lee. Glenn clearly relishes his role in this movie and is very convincing as the model soldier with a true heart of darkness.Joaquin Phoenix gives Elwood an understated charisma as he leads his troops from behind, rarely lifting the lid on the fear and frustration that simmers within him as the events he sets in motion go out of control.To say that this film is anti-military is unfair as it contains portrayals of decent, honest and professional soldiers as well as the scammers, pimps and dopeheads that the plot focuses on. It is a film about human beings (with all their failings) in uniform, not soldiers. "Buffalo Soldiers" is anti-complacency, anti-indoctrination and anti-corruption, which is probably why its release was postponed after the September 11th terrorist outrage of 2001. In the light of recent despicable acts by a small group of US soldiers in Iraq's Abu Graib prison, this film seems eerily prescient. Without an enemy to fight in open combat, what happens to the aggression and contempt for that enemy that military training fosters? Ignore the negative comments and give this under-rated film a chance. It was titled "Army Go Home" in Germany, where the film is set, echoing the feelings of German citizens who lived near foreign troops sent to defend them against Communism. The Beetle-crushing sequence (an absurdly comic high point of the film) is based on actual incidents involving bored, intoxicated British and American troops on manoeuvres, armed to the teeth and waiting for a war that never came.