Buffalo Soldiers

The narrator has a good line to describe what this is about: "Soldiers with nothing to kill but time." American troops in the Supply Corps in West Germany, 1989. What can they do? Get high, or up to mischief? What else is there?

Sweeping changes are happening throughout Eastern Europe. These space cowboys haven't a clue. The colonel (Ed Harris) talks of buying a vineyard, while his clerk, Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix), services his wife (Elizabeth McGovern). A soldier asks: "Where is the Berlin wall?" It's clever stuff.

At first, you are reminded of Catch 22, because Elwood's life concerns flogging truckloads of army goods on the black market. He's into heroin, too, which is something else. Let's face it, he is not a nice guy, he's arrogant, cocky and self-important. He thinks he knows it all, when, in fact, he's a small fish in a dangerous ocean and too square-brained to notice.

When a heavy duty sergeant (Scott Glenn), with notches from 'Nam, arrives to clean up the corruption, the first thing Elwood does is make a pass at his daughter (Anna Paquin). He's such an idiot. The serge sets out to wipe the barracks floor with him. It's not difficult.

Shot with what looks like a video camera, the film turns nasty. Anyone expecting anarchic fun, on the level of Three Kings, will be disappointed. Racism is rife. People die unnecessarily all the time and their next of kin are sent letters about "in the line of duty". Elwood steals crates of weapons and no-one seems to give a damn. Violence is endemic and drugs rule. When a tank goes berserk in the village, squashing fruit stalls and a VW Beetle, before causing a gas station to blow up, because everyone inside is wasted on smack, there isn't so much as an enquiry. A couple of soldiers are killed in that incident, news of which is swept under the carpet with everything else.

There comes a point when it stops making sense. Elwood's a jerk, basically, and you don't care. The colonel's a nice guy, but weak. The military police are totally dishonest and the serge is a psycho. His daughter flirts outrageously and, for all her army brat bravado, doesn't understand the power of sex . No-one understands anything. Except the man with a gun.

Aussie director Gregor Jordan is not taking a satirical swipe at the US military. He's serious. About Elwood? Is he worth it? Not really, but he tells it well. Except for the ending. As if someone in the office woke up to what was going on and said, "Leave us on a high".

No, not that kind.