Opens Fri Aug 8

at the Varsity.

Buffalo Soldiers, which was completed in 2001, is by no means a miraculous picture, but the threat of its release inspired a rather miraculous controversy. Said controversy, fueled by the film's studio as well as various pundits: Given our country's current climate, why would Miramax, which is owned by Disney, want to release a film that dares to show the U.S. military in a less than glowing light?

In a roundabout way, an answer to this question (as well as the entire sham controversy) can be found in the immortal wisdom of Lenny Bruce, who once described satire as being a combination of tragedy plus time--that given enough rings in the tree trunk, any event, any atrocity, can and will be spun into comedy. Hence Mel Brooks' The Producers, or, to an unintended degree, James Cameron's Titanic; sensitivity may postpone jokes--be it for a day or 20 years--but eventually absurdity will, must, take over. Otherwise, how can we stand it all?

Buffalo Soldiers is not entirely satire, and what it does satirize is not a specific event but an institution: the American military. And the American military, whether it is engaged with an enemy or not, should never be above satire, just as it should never be above any form of criticism. The fact that U.S. troops are currently tangling with Iraqis overseas is irrelevant. Buffalo Soldiers is not about soldiers in Iraq--it is not Three Kings--but about a handful of corrupt soldiers stationed in Germany in the late '80s, and as such it has no bearing whatsoever on our country's current engagement. Releasing Buffalo Soldiers now--or even in 2001--is not unsympathetic or in poor taste; it is not akin to releasing a film criticizing NYC firemen days after 9/11, no matter how "fair and balanced" your position.

And yet Miramax, which used to have a spine, has repeatedly postponed the release of Buffalo Soldiers, much to the chagrin of the film's director, Gregor Jordan. The company's thinking, I assume, has been that it will be accused of the cinematic equivalent of belting out "Springtime for Hitler" during the Nuremberg trials; it is running yellow, afraid of being labeled "unpatriotic." But the funny thing is, the film will undoubtedly fall faster than Baghdad on its own, no matter how much pundits and other idiots squawk.

Why? Because Buffalo Soldiers doesn't really work. This is not to say that it's a terrible picture--because it's not--but that it's never as funny and engaging as it should be. If Stripes has taught us anything, it's that the American military can be fertile ground for comedy; then again, if Steve Martin's disastrous Sgt. Bilko has taught us anything, it's that the same ground can also be barren. Buffalo Soldiers resides smack between these two, and the result, unfortunately, is rather meager.

The plot: Joaquin Phoenix stars as Army Specialist Ray Elwood, a huckster and a cheat. The year is 1989 and the Berlin Wall is about to crumble, and Elwood--arrogant and merely coasting through his stretch in the military--has the run of his base. Dabbling in everything from stolen Army supplies to heroin, Elwood has a talent for bamboozling the base's commander (Ed Harris), giving him free rein to get away with as much, and earn as much, as he can during his stint--that is, until a new sergeant, Robert Lee (Scott Glenn), arrives. Stern and short-fused, Lee immediately locks horns with Elwood, a situation only made worse by Elwood's dalliances with Lee's daughter, Robyn (Anna Paquin).

Lee and Elwood's scrimmages, both on and off the base, lead to various tricks, backstabbings, and shenanigans, culminating in a fiery ending that is both preposterous and unnecessary, and which perfectly sums up the film's chief problem: There is much nasty business in Buffalo Soldiers, and that business routinely works to undermine, instead of enhance, the film's satire. The result is a mean-spirited, occasionally hilarious picture that, in the end, fails--not completely fails, but fails nonetheless.

But at least now that Miramax has located its testicles and is finally giving the film a release, Buffalo Soldiers is free to fail in the multiplexes, just like every failure of a film should. God bless America, and all that other crap.