THE ART OF WAR IN 'JARHEAD,' THAT MEANS LEARNING TO SURVIVE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

Timing can give something added meaning.

That's the case for both the book and now the movie version of ``Jarhead,'' opening Friday.

First and foremost, in 1990, third-generation Marine Anthony Swofford was sent to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield/Storm, a war that, it turned out, did not require the sniper skills he'd been trained in. It took him nearly a dozen years to write his memoir of that odd modern conflict without ground combat - and the book came out just as America's second war with Iraq began in 2003.

Now the movie version - starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford, Jamie Foxx as the composite Sgt. Sykes and Peter Sarsgaard as Swoff's target spotter Troy, and directed by Sam Mendes - is upon us as the U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 2,000 and the country is more divided than ever over this latest, more costly war.

But if you're expecting ``Jarhead'' to take some position on this fight by addressing the last one, think again. The idea is to just explore soldiers' mentality in a specific time and unique situation.

``It's not seeking to deliver a message, and it's not seeking to teach a lesson, any of those things,'' says Mendes, a British theater titan who won an Academy Award for his first movie directing effort, ``American Beauty.'' ``It's seeking to increase understanding, on some level, of what these guys went through then and, therefore, maybe a little bit, what they're going through now. If it's done that, it's worked. But if anyone's looking for an answer, or think that's what we're trying to provide, forget it.''

Also absent - well, the war. Although the grunts in ``Jarhead'' spend an uncertain six months preparing to invade Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, we know what they don't: that Saddam Hussein's feared military will be quickly destroyed from the air, American ground casualties almost infinitesimal.

So, minus the life-and-death drama inherent in war films, ``Jarhead'' had nowhere else to go, really, but inside its itchy warriors' heads.

``Usually, the action's moving so fast, you don't get the opportunity to see the psychology, really,'' notes 25-year-old Gyllenhaal, who's on quite a roll this year with ``Jarhead,'' ``Proof'' and the upcoming ``Brokeback Mountain.''

``You do see the effects of it, but you don't see what happens when people are given these standards to live up to and pushed to the brink, but not given a situation where they can use that. So the enemy becomes themselves, ultimately.

``The idea that both a film and a book could be made about waiting and boredom, and make them entertaining, was pretty extraordinary,'' Gyllenhaal continues.

``And as an actor, you can go to those places of rage and aggression and feel those feelings, and have so much fun doing it. I think that's also part of what the armed forces harnesses. Every day, I woke up excited to go to work, even with an hour's sleep sometimes.''

Swofford's real unfulfilled aggression was rather more agonizing.

``In the book, there's a long consideration of not having killed,'' the author says. ``I spent many years wondering: Was I really a Marine, really a combatant, really a sniper? I wanted to kill, and I missed that chance. I was conflicted about that, and I was angry. We, in some ways, felt cheated.

``Writing the book helped exorcise all of that,'' adds Swofford, who has not fired a rifle since mustering out of the Corps. ``Many years later, I'm happy that I didn't have that chance for a sniper kill.''

To give some inkling of how theoretically bloodthirsty those all-volunteer Marines were, both the movie and book show the jarheads, on the eve of flying out of their U.S. base, drunkenly cheering the combat sequences from Francis Ford Coppola's anti-Vietnam War epic ``Apocalypse Now.''

``All of those guys are there because of what they learned from movies,'' Mendes observes. ``Their knowledge of Vietnam was not from Vietnam, but from 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Full Metal Jacket.' And they pick out what they want to jazz them up, but the truth is these were all passionately anti-war movies.''

That behavior barely registers on the perversity meter compared to what the bored, warfare- and woman-less Marines got into while sweltering in the Middle Eastern sand for six months.

Take Christmas, for example. A drunken Swofford celebrated wearing nothing but boots and an elf hat as a g-string.

``When I was in 'Jarhead,' I felt really good about my body, really confident,'' says Gyllenhaal, who got in the habit of doing 25 push-ups between each take at the film's main location, the Holtville air strip east of El Centro, California. ``Insecurities just sort of go away in that atmosphere. You're messing around with the guys, that's what was going on in my mind. I walked around the set all day, naked, with that thing on. I didn't care ... especially when you have a rifle in your hands!''

Despite its refreshing lack - for a post-Vietnam war movie, anyway - of a political agenda, scenes such as that made Pentagon cooperation with the production of ``Jarhead'' impossible.

``We did ask,'' Mendes reports. ``And luckily, instead of saying, 'Well, maybe, if you make a few adjustments,' there was some intelligent person at the Pentagon who flat-out said, 'No way.' Which is what you want, because there are lots of stories about them saying yes, then at the last minute wanting changes and, before you know it, everything's compromised.''

However irreverent the material got, though, the key actors stand uniform in their respect for servicepeople.

``I don't care, really, whether the movie polarizes people, Republican, Democrat,'' says Sarsgaard, whose father was in the Air Force. ``I don't think it should. But what's more important to me is that I hope Marines get something out of it. I hope that they feel like we honored them, because we meant to.''

``I have a friend who is in Iraq right now and is doing a lot of good over there, restoring schools and helping democracy in a way,'' adds Gyllenhaal, who hails from a traditionally liberal Hollywood family (and whose actress sister, Maggie - who also is Sarsgaard's girlfriend - sparked controversy earlier this year with a comment about the Sept. 11 terror attacks). ``Do I agree with the administration and their intentions behind this war? I don't know; I don't think so. But I can't do anything but support wholeheartedly, and actually look up to, these soldiers in a way that I never did before I made this movie.''

As for Foxx, who finds the very concept of war incomprehensible, even making a movie about surviving one while real soldiers are dying borders on tragedy.

``I still sit and wonder, how can we have war in these times?'' the acclaimed ``Ray'' star says. ``Sometimes it seems so primitive. I'm such a peaceful guy, I'm always thinking, why can't everything just be cool?

``For those kids out there that are 18 and 19, losing their lives, it's not a movie, nobody's yelling 'Cut!' and nobody's bringing you Evian water and things like that.''

That said, Foxx arguably experienced the most bizarre timing disconnect of anyone working on ``Jarhead.'' While shooting the movie last winter, he also was winning almost every movie award known to man for his portrayal of Ray Charles, culminating with a best actor Oscar.

``After we won that, I went back to work that ... Tuesday, I think it was, because on Monday I was RE-CU-PER-ATING!'' Foxx recalls, as best he can. ``But you've gotta stay in focus, that's your job. And Sam Mendes had won an Oscar, so he was giving me all the pointers, how I was gonna feel and all those different things. So when we got back to the set, it was a love fest.''

Really? No hard time from his colleagues stuck in the desert?

``They were more like, 'How was it on the mountaintop?' and I'd sit down and tell 'em,'' Foxx says. `` 'Wow, you can't believe this! There was Clint Eastwood over there and this other person over there.' It was amazing to be able to come back and share that with cats who may be able to achieve it, too.''

Swofford's initial Hollywood experience was an unusually positive one as well. Although timing caused a slight delay - producers were reluctant to commit to his manuscript while our troops were still on the road to Baghdad - it also helped to enlist the best possible talents for the movie. That included screenwriter and Vietnam War Marine pilot William Broyles (``Apollo 13,'' ``Cast Away'').

As for seeing himself portrayed on screen, that - along with time - seems to have extended the exorcism process.

``I love Jake's performance,'' Swofford says. ``It's thoughtful, introspective, rough, brash, conflicted ... and those are things that I was. Through the combination of having read the book, Bill's script and Sam's direction, he really captured that young 20-year-old Marine at war with many things.''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- cover -- color) WAR IN MIND

Page design by Warren Huskey/Staff Artist

(3) no caption (scene from ``Jarhead'')

(4) Jamie Foxx, left, as Staff Sgt. Sykes, director Sam Mendes and Jake Gyllenhaal as Anthony Swofford take a break from shooting the Gulf War drama ``Jarhead.''

(5) Peter Sarsgaard as Troy relieves pent-up stress in ``Jarhead.''