Jarhead is a 2005 biographical war drama film based on the 2003 memoir of the same name by Anthony Swofford, chronicling his military service in the United States Marine Corps during the Persian Gulf War.
Jarhead: Directed by Sam Mendes. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Scott MacDonald. A psychological study of Marine's state of mind during the Gulf War. Told through the eyes of a U.S. Marine sniper who struggles to cope with boredom, a sense of isolation, and other issues back home.
Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action.
A young Marine sniper awaiting action in the Gulf War experiences the loneliness and frustrations of combat while worrying about home and his future. Watch trailers & learn more.
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In the late 1980s, Anthony Swofford enlists as a Marine, training in boot camp and eventually deploying to Iraq during the Gulf War. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully grasp.
Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows Swoff (Gyllenhaal) from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, where he sports a sniper rifle through Middle East deserts that provide no cover from the heat or Iraqi soldiers.