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Buffalo Soldiers (Army Go Home!)

Movie · 2001 · 15 people

Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Anna Paquin and Scott Glenn lead the cast of Buffalo Soldiers, with Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer also on board, in a 2001 satirical black comedy aimed at the US Army. Gregor Jordan directed and wrote it with Eric Weiss from Robert O'Connor's 1993 novel of the same name, and it was made as a German-American-British co-production with Film4 and Good Machine.

The story takes place in 1989 on an American base in West Germany, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Company clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) has found an interesting pastime: running drug and stolen-goods rackets. His schemes are disrupted by the arrival of a new sergeant. Also in the cast: Elizabeth McGovern, Dean Stockwell, Michael Peña, Gabriel Mann and Idris Elba.

The film had its world premiere on 8 September 2001 at the 26th Toronto International Film Festival. The September 11 attacks delayed its release about two years. It opened in the UK on 18 July 2003 through Pathé, in the US in limited release on 25 July 2003 and widely on 8 August through Miramax, and in Turkey on 1 August 2003. The 98-minute film received five nominations at the 6th British Independent Film Awards, including Best British Independent Film and Best Actor for Phoenix.

DirectorGregor Jordan
Production companyFilm4 Productions

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Cast

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Haluk Bilginer Haluk Bilginer Actor · 72 years old Idris Elba Idris Elba Actor · 54 years old Joaquin Phoenix Ed Harris Anna Paquin Scott Glenn Elizabeth McGovern Michael Peña Gabriel Mann Leon Robinson Dean Stockwell Brian Delate Shiek Mahmud-Bey Glenn Fitzgerald Tom Ellis

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Gregor Jordan's film walks a difficult line for military satire: it sets its black comedy on ground that is not funny at all, drug dealing and stolen-goods rackets. That choice of tone is both its strength and its risk. Making Ray Elwood a company clerk is a smart script decision; the man who knows the system best from inside its paperwork is the one best placed to exploit it. The new sergeant's arrival, which upsets his schemes, gives the story the opposing force it needs. Still, satire built around a protagonist with no regard for the rules has a familiar problem here too: the audience has little moral footing to hold on to. Phoenix's Best Actor nomination at the British Independent Film Awards suggests this tricky character was done justice.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film's timing is a story in itself. Setting it in 1989 on an American base in West Germany, just before the Berlin Wall fell, opens a reading about a military order whose enemy was growing hazier in the last days of the Cold War. A barracks where boredom turns into corruption invites thought about the gap between a big institution's purpose and its daily routine. On top of that, the September 11 attacks, which came shortly after its world premiere, held back its release by about two years. It is not hard to imagine how awkward a film mocking the army looked in that climate.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Army base, sergeant, soldiers: it is easy to expect a war film, but Buffalo Soldiers is something else entirely, a black comedy about the army. The tension comes not from combat but from a clerk's illegal side business being put at risk by a newly arrived sergeant. If you are after firefights, you may be disappointed. But if you like tension built on the risk of getting caught, give it a go.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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