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G.I. JANE
G.I. JANE is ostensibly about gender equality in the military, but its real intention is to glorify the “pain principle” in physical and military training If it doesn’t kill you, it’s good for you. Consider the general passion for hard gut endurance and humiliation exercises as a cure for just about every weakness, from thin muscles to thin and unreliable character.
Demi Moore is the heroine of a classic “basic training” movie in which an underdog persists and endures and wins the sincere respect of the stern drill instructor nemesis (Viggo Mortensen). It happens to be in the Navy SEAL boot camp, “the most intense training known to man.”
The film succeeds largely because the shaven headed Moore works so hard and convincingly that the gnawing doubts (in reality, there are no female SEALS) disappear and you have to be made of stone not to pull for her. She must overcome not only the physical demands the film is basically two hours of equal opportunity masochism for your own good but also sexual harassment and the humiliation of being exploited by an opportunistic female senator (Anne Bancroft).
Also helpful is the relentless intensity provided by director Ridley Scott (Thelma and Louise). Add the “reality” context of several major 1990’s military sex scandals and the ongoing efforts by pioneer female cadets to integrate The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute.
Most of us think our daughters can do just about anything and we’d like to enjoy a movie like this. But achieving parity in military machismo is not necessarily noble and depression keeps getting in the way of inspiration. Stretches of G.I. language and give and take nastiness and brutality; problem sexual situation; for adults, but not especially recommended.
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