As "Buffalo Soldiers" lurches toward its fiery, bloody ending, there is a lull in the mayhem. It is the autumn of 1989. A group of American soldiers stationed in Germany, woozy from the fumes of heroin cooking around them, nod out in a warehouse, where a television brings news of the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Where is the Berlin Wall?" one of them asks another, who answers that it's in Berlin. Yeah, but where's Berlin? Somebody knows that it's in Germany, explains that there are two countries with that name and guesses that the soldiers themselves are in the eastern one.
The cynical, satirical premise of this film, directed by Gregor Jordan and adapted from Robert O'Connor's 1993 novel, is summed up in that scene. At the climax of the geopolitical struggle that dominated the second half of the 20th century, according to the filmmakers, the military professionals on the winning side had no clue what the whole thing was about, or even where it was taking place.
The post-Vietnam United States Army is depicted as a hotbed of loutishness, incompetence and outright criminality. The closest thing to a hero is Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix), a supply specialist who — in the tradition of Joseph Heller's Milo Minderbinder — uses his job as a taxpayer-financed staging ground for black-marketeering, drug dealing and when the opportunity arises big-time weapons trafficking. His superior officers range from clueless (Ed Harris) to vicious (Scott Glenn), and the head of the local M.P.'s (Sheik Mahmud-Bey) becomes Ray's rival in a violent, racially tinged turf war.
"Buffalo Soldiers," which was completed in the summer of 2001, opens in New York and Los Angeles today after having been moved on and off Miramax's release schedule several times. After Sept. 11, 2001, as American soldiers went into battle in Afghanistan and then Iraq, it must have been hard to imagine the public embracing a scabrous anti-military satire.
With United States forces still very much in harm's way in Iraq, now might not be such a great time either. Miramax's advertisements — in which the stars of the American flag are rendered as dollar signs and the tagline reads "Steal All That You Can Steal" — have already sparked outrage, in the military and elsewhere. A predictable controversy is likely to ensue.
If "Buffalo Soldiers" were a better movie — and made good on its apparent ambition to join the nihilists-in-uniform tradition of Mike Nichols's "Catch-22" and Robert Altman's "MASH" — then there might be something to argue about. But the picture is sloppy when it should be incisive, indulgent when it should be astringent, and ultimately unsure of what it is mocking and in what spirit.
Mr. Phoenix, sullen and charming by turns, almost holds the whole mess together with his loose, cunning performance. Ray is thoroughly amoral — a habitual liar and manipulator who butters up his commanding officer (Mr. Harris) in the morning and cuckolds him in the afternoon — but he is also curiously likable.
When a new immediate supervisor, Sgt. Robert E. Lee (Mr. Glenn), decides to crack down on Ray's featherbedding and black-marketing, Ray decides to seduce the sergeant's daughter, Robyn (Anna Paquin). Wise to his game, she ends up seducing him, and the best part of Mr. Phoenix's performance is the way he registers the delight of a hunter, as the old song goes, being captured by the game.
The romance between Robyn and Ray is clumsily lumped together with a scheme to trade weapons for heroin, and the movie's satirical potential is frittered away as it becomes a violent, pulpy caper story. There are some moments of keenly observed comedy, like a cocktail party at which Mr. Harris, egged on by his ambitious, unfaithful wife (Elizabeth McGovern), flatters a bored visiting general played by Dean Stockwell.
But the wit of the performances is dragged down into a quagmire of brutality and incoherence. Where there is peace, Ray muses in his voice-over, quoting Nietzsche, the warlike man attacks himself. And "Buffalo Soldiers," which should have been smooth and provocative, fights against itself every step of the way. It claims to uncover (and also means to celebrate) the anarchy that percolates within a rigidly ordered institution, but is itself too disorderly to make the point in a suitably interesting or infuriating manner.
"Buffalo Soldiers" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes heavy drug use, extreme violence and frequent swearing.
This is so utterly repulsive.
I would love to find that there was foreign financing so that we could convict everyone stupid enough to be involved in this misguided pap as a traitor.
The problem with anti-militarists is that they are generally snobs. This seems to be another one of those. Why not just reissue "From Here to Eternity?"
Sorry to see this thing made and released, but the truth is, drugs have been a real problem with G.I's in Germany for years.
Don't know why the producers would think it entertaining.
I'd heard and assumed that the drug problem was pretty much fixed during the military buildup early 80's. I'll have to ask my buddy who was stationed in Germany during that time.
Would have fit Jimmy Carter's military - circa 1979. Once Ronald Reagan took over, however - the business of that Nightingale singing became the norm. Pride and professionalism returned and prevailed by 1989-91 so that the Gulf War I soldiers were dedicated, sober & ready for battle. Lefties were not/are not, obviously, aware of what transformation took place. Or they are liars.
Regardless of the movie, the underlying theme is a real problem within the military. Inventory control may be better now (?) but for years rather low grade non-coms could and did route perfectly new and operable items out the back door to resellers who then kicked back to the non-coms. This was (is?) costing the military in the billions. Other problems were (are) poor control which causes items to be reordered when already overstocked. This eventually leads to the surplus being sold off for near nothing. Lots of waste in the military that we all regret because we know the true needs.
When I first saw the title, "Buffalo Soldiers," I thought it was a movie about the Negro Cavalry Regiments in the Indian Campaigns and the Spanish-American War. Talk about a misleading title.
