A Few Good Men

Saw A Few Good Men, rounding out this courtroom drama kick I've been on.  This film follows a murder trial where two marines are accused of hazing a fellow marine to death.  Over the course of this trial, the defense shall show that the marines were acting on the explicit orders of their commanders and that, howsoever we desire the truth, yet we cannot handle the truth.  The film was made in 1992 but the central hazing event happened in Guantanamo.  In a wonderful example of life imitating art, this film revolves around the incongruity of American ideals vs the methods used to uphold them - a theme which is now intimately connected with Guantanamo.

The film is fairly taught.  It starts off as a sort of mystery, with the main characters collecting evidence and searching for the cracks which will make the prosecution's case fall apart.  There's character growth as well, but it's very on-the-nose stuff.  We're not meant to discover that this character has grown: we are told it in montage and in that character soulfully gazing out into the ocean.  Like I say, the first half is a mystery that we're uncovering.  The themes of honor and the importance of a moral code are set-dressing to the court case.

Then the court case comes and the formula is reversed.  We have no last-minute surprise evidence or witnesses, just men screaming at each other about ends and means and, yes, that great line "you can't handle the truth!"  The second half works to drive both the thematic and plot elements to a climax in the same scene.  It's some great stuff!

The central philosophical struggle concerns doing what's right vs doing what's expedient.  The truth that we cannot handle is that the front lines of national borders are brutal, dehumanizing places where barbarity quickly sneaks in.  Americans would learn this lesson in real life during the W Bush years when it was revealed that, yes, America tortures its prisoners too and that, no, they're not going to stop.  Although the lawyer wins the battle in this film, they loose the war.  The film however imagines a seductive world where virtue is rewarded and that noble intentions are recognized and rewarded.  Incidentally, this film was inspired by a real-life hazing case in Guantanamo.

The film is good - it has a lot of dynamite performances by an excellent cast.  The script is good and clever, and the plot portrays a seductive world where clever people catch evildoers and put them away for the sake of the greater good.  It deals with complex, real-world issues which indict our existing world.