Tigerland

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Year:	2000
Country of origin:	USA / Germany
Director:	Joel Schumacher
Genre:	Vietnam training camp drama
Starring:	Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, Clifton Collins Jr., Shea Whigham
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170691/
Tagline:	The system wanted them to become soldiers. One soldier just wanted to be human.
Favourite line:	"Hey let's not become friends, Jim. You could be dead tomorrow and I'd miss you too much."

Joel Schumacher, better known for high concept thrillers such as Phone Booth and Falling Down, takes a stab at the Vietnam war movie genre.
Choosing not to ape the giants in the field, his slant is to focus on the training of the would-be soldiers before they arrive at the war proper.

We join the film as a group of new 'grunts' arrive at training, a six week ordeal that will culminate in them being sent, for one week only, to Tigerland, a training area situated as near to the actual war as possible, to simulate as accurately is feasible the situation the men will imminently find themselves in.
Colin Farrell plays Private Bozz, a left winger who refuses to take the war seriously or even the army itself. Mocking his superiors, questioning every order and flagrantly disobeying his commanding officers at times, this film focuses on his struggles to come to terms with an impossible situation. Unable to extracate himself from the army, he goes out of his way to help others, to get them away from the danger, but incurs the wrath of both his superiors and the more right wing leaning members of his own training group, in particular one Private Wilson, a man so highly strung you can see his balls when he opens his mouth.

An interesting concept, highlighing the appalling conditions that many conscripts had to deal with, as well as the differing views on conscription, this is not the movie I expected it to be, and that is in no way a criticism.
Tense, intelligent and disturbing, this is a difficult watch at times, and is still poignant today, some twenty three years after the war ended.
Definitely worth a look.