Starring: Colin Farrell, Matt Davis
Director: Joel Schumacher
Rated: MA15+
THE arthouse film Tigerland has been released at a fortuitous time.
With battles raging on the other side of the world and Australian troops now involved, it is important for us to keep reflecting on the human toll exacted by war.
Private Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) has been drafted to fight in Vietnam. He objects to the war and wants to be discharged. He is sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for a five-week basic training course, then on to the infamous Tigerland for a one-week intensive military exercise before being shipped out to the front-line in South-East Asia.
While recognising Bozz’s leadership abilities, his superiors resent his insubordinate behaviour, but will not discharge him because they do not want a martyr for the objectors’ cause. They also need all the men they can get in Vietnam.
Based on a true story, Tigerland narrates the brutality and humiliation involved in preparing conscripts for war. We see men pushed to the edge and watch some go over it. Tigerland shows the good guy’s army doing inhumane things to its own in the name of defeating a barbaric enemy.
Given the subject matter of this film, the language, physical and emotional violence is, as one could expect, very high. So much so I am surprised it did not gain an R classification. The camera work is jumpy and the film has a gritty finish which all reflects the raw humanity it explores.
Still, Bozz is indomitable as a truth-teller and an unusual Good Samaritan. This powerful in-your-face story alerts us to the human costs of any war at home as well as abroad.
