I’m glad you acknowledged the anti-war theme of the movie. It’s amazing to me that so many people view this as a positive or even neutral portrayal of our soldiers when the main character is merely reckless and borderline psychotic, as opposed to completely evil (or a dupe for the Bush administration). It isn’t neutral at all. This is an anti-war film.
That said, most of it felt pretty authentic to me. Do I believe that people get left to bleed out in the street for the sake of convenience? No, I do not. Do I think people generally re-enlist because they love the war so much? No, I’m sorry, I do not. She gets the trappings right, but motives are sketchy. Unfortunately understanding motives is critical to character arcs, which is why you see none in this film.
