Carl Colpaert's G.I. Jesus [Joe Arquette / Patrícia Mota / Maurizio Farhad / Telana Lynum]

Polly Staffle Rating: ****

“The skillful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man. For the wise man delights in establishing his merit, the brave man likes to show his courage in action, the covetous man is quick at seizing advantages, and the stupid man has no fear of death.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“I know of no more disagreeable situation than to be left feeling generally angry without anybody in particular to be angry at.”
- Frank Moore Colby, educator/writer

When a movie has the ability to make you feel something, it’s doing its job. When the ending credits roll, it doesn’t matter if the film was flawed; if it made you laugh, cry, or scream, or gave you an adrenaline rush then it’s an entertaining work to behold.

All good films do these things. But great films go even further than moving us. They give us something to think about. They make us question our beliefs and morals. They expose us to things we might not have known about or never cared to think about. The ultimate power is for the film to make an impact and actually change your perspective on something. That’s what Carl Colpaert’s “G.I. Jesus” did for me. It’s not the best made film screened at CineVegas this year, but it’s definitely the most important.

Before watching this film, I had absolutely no respect or sympathy for any of the men and women of our military involved in the Middle East. “Support the troops” is what we’ve been told. It was something I could never get behind. Many Americans have and still do. They display yellow ribbons and flags on their cars. But the way I looked at it was these men and women signed up for it. “They chose to be there,” I thought. “This isn’t Vietnam with a draft and very little information about what is going on in the world. Anyone that joined the military is obviously a loose cannon that has the urge to commit murder.”

Now before you write me off as an anti-American, let me explain. From the moment September 11 happened I knew only bad was going to come of it. People were so badly wanting an enemy. They wanted someone to blame. The government and the media sold them on an ever present optical illusion. This was going to be a “war on terrorism” they told us. A picture of good vs. evil was painted. For the record I never bought into it. But many did. When the mass-murdering that we call “war” began I took it pretty hard. It made me embarrassed to be an American. I felt sympathy for the families of Afghanistan and Iraq. It ate at me. As I kept up with the events daily through Anti-War.com. I saw images of children and women, some dead, some barely alive and others who probably wish they were no longer living. The number of deaths shot up way past the number that died in the World Trade Center tragedy. Less than 3,000 died that day. Since then 4,000-8,000 civilians have died in Afghanistan and it has been estimated as many as 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq. These images and statistics were not aired on the nightly news. Regardless, how could I support anyone who participated in such devastation?

Of course, that was assuming everyone involved had the same knowledge and understanding of the situation as me. But they don’t. Most went in believing they were doing the right thing just like the soldiers of the Vietnam war. After watching “G.I. Jesus” I now fully understand that. This deeply touching film explores the effects of what soldier Jesus Feliciano saw and did in Iraq. A Mexican national, Jesus joined the army to get his United States citizenship. He felt becoming an American would better himself and his family. This was his chance. The U.S. military told him this was the right thing, so he went and he fought.

Jesus is now returning to his home in California. He is a wounded man. He isn’t physically hurt, but he is mentally and emotionally. He is confused, depressed and fearful. He feels guilt and is plagued with anxiety. He has to work through his emotions and finds himself wondering if taking the lives of others is worth becoming a legal American.

Shot on HD with actual war footage cut into the movie, “G.I. Jesus” offers a surreal look at the psyche of soldiers caught in the system trying to better themselves and their families, but shameful of what they’ve seen, done and have become in the process. Newcomer Joe Arquette plays the lead Jesus and is absolutely amazing. In fact, he and the core cast are brilliant together with more chemistry than the actors of most films. As Jesus gets back to his family, he can not put the war behind him. He sees visions. He has flashbacks. He has nightmares.

Worst of all, he doesn’t trust anyone, including his wife Claudia whom he so dearly loves. He refers to her as his Dominican Princess and has a huge image of her on the hood of his car. Played by Patrícia Mota, who reminded me of Asia Argento, Claudia is sexy, but strong. They have an adorable daughter Marina, played here by Tempe, Arizona’s Telana Lynum. Mota, Arquette and Lynum are so believable in their roles you could swear at times you are watching a hidden camera of a real family that cared for each other. Claudia and Jesus share a number of sweet moments as a couple and as a family with Marina. But Jesus and Claudia also send each other into fits of rage when they discuss the possibility of Jesus having to go back to fight. He doesn’t want to, but he may not have a choice. His hope is he can become a recruiter, but getting people to sign up to do the same thing he has doesn’t sit well with him either.

Rounding out the cast was Maurizio Farhad, who essentially plays a hallucination of Jesus. Farhad, who said he sees the film as a soldier’s battle with himself, is good as Mohammed. He represents the evil Jesus committed in Iraq. He can be seen as an actual person Jesus killed there or more of a composite of the many lives taken by American soldiers. Mohammed had a family much like Jesus with a small daughter, who was also killed. Since he doesn’t know Jesus’ name he calls him Joe as in G.I. Joe, which I initially did not catch and had to have it explained. I thought the actor Farhad was accidentally calling Jesus by his real name. Evidentially there was a scene explaining this, but it did not make the final cut. I also didn’t catch the symbolic Biblical reference of Jesus vs. Mohammed either, but now see the beauty of it as well.

“G.I. Jesus” was written and directed by Colpaert, who was born in Belgium. I always find it odd when people from other countries understand issues surrounding the United States better than those of us that were born and raised here. But if you stop for a moment and think about it, who better to understand a situation than someone who is looking in as an outsider. I recently called “Dear Wendy,” which was written and directed by Danish filmmakers, the most American film I had seen in a long time. I still stick by that, but this one gives it a run for its money. There are so many good issues touched on here from the molding of children into killing machines with propaganda, to the manipulation of the soldiers, to the money game doctors and insurance play, to immigration, to war, to the damage we do as a country to ourselves and just about ever other country out there.

We sell patriotism to our youth like Ronald McDonald sells them Happy Meals. Since post-traumatic stress disorder is incurable, do you think doctors and insurance companies mind? It’s an easy diagnosis and they offer a quick solution in medication that will help for as long as you shell out the money for it. We want to close off the borders and stop letting people come here when our country was founded on immigration. At the same time, we feel we have the right to invade other countries and tell them what to do. Does this make any sense to anyone? It’s essentially exploitation to the worst degree. It’s modern day slavery. “We don’t want you here Jesus, but if you go over there and kill for us, you can live here. And then when your child isn’t even of drinking age, hand them over to us, so we can ship them off to commit murder too.” No, Jesus, that’s not what I want and there are many more of us that actually care as well.

I’m glad I saw this film. I hope many get to see it and it doesn’t just disappear. I also hope a fully Spanish version or at least one with subtitles is released in Mexico and available in the United States as well. The young men like Jesus are who really need to see this. But I think everyone can take something away from it. It isn’t nowhere near perfect, but it is such an extremely important film I’ve decided not to discuss any of the flaws I felt the film had. The good of this movie so heavily outweighs the bad, which were mostly because of budget restrictions anyway. The longer this film sits with me the more I actually like it.

Thanks to Colpaert, I now realize I have no choice but to support our troops. Make that any troops on both sides of this nonsense. It’s not that I will support what they do or condone anything they may have partook in. My support is that somehow they are able to do the right thing no matter their situation. My support is also for them in hopes they return safely to their families, who also have my support. I also hope somehow, someway we are all able to put the pieces back together when they all get home.

Send any complaints, concerns, news releases, donations, etc. to CCF@pollystaffle.com

GRAND JURY AWARD WINNER - 2006 CINEVEGAS

“G.I. JESUS” (2006)

Polly Staffle Rating: ****

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