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Buffalo Soldiers is supposed to be a Catch-22 for a new generation: A dark comedy about the military with the catchy tagline of "Steal all that you can steal" that riffs on the Army's "Be all that you can be" slogan. But before we talk about the film, you're going to have to suffer through a little history lesson.
Soldiers was shot in late 2000 and made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2001, where Miramax scooped up the distribution rights less than 12 hours before planes started flying into the World Trade Center. Rather than release a film that portrayed the American military in a less-than-favorable light while troops were being sent into Afghanistan, Miramax sat on the film and waited until the bunker busting died down. With a new date on the calendar the following year, it became clear Dubya and his pals were beating the Iraq war drum, and Soldiers was once again shelved.
So either Miramax couldn't wait anymore or just decided Iraq was merely the second in a long line of planned military invasions that would guarantee a perpetually less-than-favorable climate for Soldiers. And, of course, people are still upset. The dumb ones are offended a film would dare to mock the American Military Juggernaut while our soldiers are dying at the rate of one per day (like that's the fault of the filmmakers), and the really dumb ones are aghast anyone would compare the morally questionable characters of this film with the black soldiers who helped protect the Wild, Wild West ("buffalo" is a verb, too, you cretins). But what else would you expect from a bullshit pro-Toby Keith/anti-Dixie Chicks public who gets the vapors over a poster which features a soldier flashing a peace sign while standing in front of an American flag with dollar signs replacing the stars?
Soldiers is set in October 1989 at the Theodore Roosevelt Army Base in Stuttgart, Germany. The Berlin Wall has yet to topple, and the troops at the base are largely a bunch of stoners with nothing to do and "nothing to kill but time." Joaquin Phoenix (Signs) plays Ray Elwood, a battalion clerk who has nightmares of falling through the sky, Slim Pickens-style, like a bomb. Elwood is also a convicted felon who took three years of service instead of time in the pokey, and he's made the most of his position in the military, which enables him to acquire surplus-size quantities of stuff and turn it into black market profits.
Elwood's latest score - a truck full of weapons he plans on trading for 30 kilos of heroin - arrives around the same time as his new Top, First Sergeant Robert Lee (Scott Glenn, The Shipping News). Lee knows Elwood is up to no good and plans on catching him. Elwood, on the other hand, is up for the challenge and fucks Lee's daughter (Anna Paquin, X2) just because she's Lee's daughter. What follows is a battle reminiscent of Rushmore's Max Fischer and Herman Blume (who, like Lee, was in the shit in 'Nam), only not as fun, funny or interesting.
I believe some minor changes have been made to Soldiers since I saw it in 2001, but I didn't really think much of it back then. Phoenix is badly miscast, as he doesn't seem smart enough to pull off any of these scams (in addition to fencing government property, he's also banging the wife of his previous commanding officer) or tough enough to stand up to a bad-ass like Lee. The highlight is a scene in which a tank full of doped-up soldiers cut a path of destruction through a German town during what is supposed to be a routine exercise.
Soldiers was directed by Aussie Gregor Jordan, who won Best Short Film at Cannes in 1995 and adapts Robert O'Connor's novel here with Bongwater scribes Eric Axel Weiss and Nora Maccoby. Their attempt is flat, though nicely lensed by Oliver Stapleton (The Shipping News). Really, the only thing it should be offending is your own personal taste in quality cinema. It's a period film set during a time when the military's greatest enemy was themselves. I mean, people are still reading Beetle Bailey, aren't they?
1:34 - R for violence, drug content, strong language and some sexuality
========== X-RAMR-ID: 35336 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1178012 X-RT-TitleID: 1124170 X-RT-SourceID: 595 X-RT-AuthorID: 1146 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10
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