Description

Gregor Jordan’s film takes place in Germany during the last days of the Cold War. Stuck on duty as Batallion Clerk at a US Army base in West Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) maintains a lucrative sideline in blackmarket trade under the nose of his superiors – and is even sleeping with the wife of his boss, Colonel Berman (Ed Harris). Things begin to change, however, when a new sergeant (Scott Glenn) arrives and tries to clean up the base. Elwood thinks he can handle anything, even the sergeant’s daughter (Anna Paquin), but he doesn’t realise who he is up against. Synopsis In Buffalo Soldiers, Joaquin Phoenix stars as Ray Elwood, an Army clerk stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Part of a company made up almost entirely of ex-convicts and school drop-outs, Elwood takes advantage of his daft commanding officer, Col. Berman (Harris), by selling heroin and stolen Army supplies wholesale. When a member of the company dies and an autopsy reveals a remarkable amount of drugs in his bloodstream, however, far more intense scrutiny is brought down on the base in the form of Sgt. Lee (Glenn)–a tough and savvy Vietnam veteran who immediately surmises that Elwood is the brains behind the base’s black market operations. Unfortunately, Elwood happens to land upon the biggest score of his tour–two trucks full of arms and 30 kilos of heroin–just as Sgt. Lee begins to orchestrate his downfall. Based on Robert O’Connor’s novel, Buffalo Soldiers is cynical but not irreverent; it doesn’t treat its characters irresponsible and often idiotic behaviour lightly, nor does it judge them. Director Gregor Jordan has done an excellent job of adapting the tone of the original novel to the screen and, aided by excellent performances from Messrs. Phoenix and Glenn, makes Buffalo Soldiers a thoroughly enjoyable satire.