Three Kings Notes

Here is a list of notes that I have compiled detailing the representations of troops from David O' Russell's 'Three Kings'. I have chosen two main scenes at present, however this may grow to three or four with more viewings.

The first scene that I would like to write about is what I would call the 'Expedition, setting off scene'. Basically, starting as soon as the four soldiers leave camp to hunt down the missing Kuwait gold.

• Bart Simpson and an American flag attached to the front of the Humvee shows the soldiers to be extremely patriotic and proud to be American. They can be seen throwing american footballs around and shooting at them, which brings me onto my next point.
• They are shown to be extremely cowboy like by their rowdy behavior and the way they play with the weapons and explosives such as C4 like toys, with little respect. For example using the footballs as make-shift clay pigeons and then shooting at them with an assault rifle and handguns, plus Spike Jonze's character who actually straps C4 to a football and blows it up.
• George Clooney's character 'Archie Gates' is represented in a stereotypical American way, sporting micro features such as rolled up sleeves, aviator sunglasses and perfect white teeth.
• One of the most apparent and clear cut representations is that of their recklessness. The portrayal as gun-wielding cowboys, wasting ammunition on playing dangerous and irresponsible games whilst truanting from camp is a very stylized stereotype but it seems in some ways this is a common view from the rest of the world.
• One way of describing this recklessness and 'laddish' behavior could be that the troops are like jocks in the desert.
• Other things such as just the four of them taking on an entire village to search for the gold and no hurting anyone is an unrealistic attempt of trying to be heroic.

The second scene of this film that I have looked at is what I would call 'Wahlbergs interrogation scene'.

• This scene shows yet another side of the soldiers, it can be seen to represent them as racists, not just soldiers but Americans in general. For example, a quote from an Iraqi soldier, 'Captain Said' says "you're f***ing country makes the black man hate himself, just like you hate the Arabs and children over here". This is making a huge statement about Americans and could in some ways be justified, however in many other ways it is quite unreasonable.
• Said describes how bombing villages in the gulf killed many women and children which again represents them as reckless in the war, this is a much darker side to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Captain Said also brings out Wahlberg's emotional side, which is completely opposite to the previous scene that I have talked about. However this scene is quite similar to the emotional scene from 'Hurt Locker' which displays an often unseen side to the soldiers.

David O' Russell felt that the soldiers and the war was basically (in some ways) a party, he explains in his directors commentary how some soldiers didn't take it very seriously due o the fact that they didn't see much action whilst out in the Gulf. However this did not take away from the fact that he believed anybody in the army in the line of fire is/was still a hero.