#77 Full Metal Jacket

In Summary

Stanley Kubrick takes on the Vietnam war in his typical, visual-centric style in Full Metal Jacket.

As a film-goer, you get good value-for-money with Full Metal Jacket, with it being effectively two films for the price of one. While each half of the film complements the other, Full Metal Jacket is most certainly a bifurcated experience.

The most memorable half of the film is undoubtedly the first, as the Marine recruits are put through their paces by the drill instructor, Sergeant Hartman. It is a visceral experience as the audience feels under instruction as much as the trainee soldiers are, as their personalities are slowly subsumed into the singular, Marine identity.

It is through this rigour that the audience feels the recruits' frustration with the black sheep - nicknamed 'Pyle' by Sgt. Hartman - who is slow, overweight and seemingly incapable of meeting the standards required to pass training.

Hope comes from the other trainee given an identity, 'Joker', who has the gumption to stand up to Sgt. Hartman when necessary, earning the drill instructor's respect and then handed the responsibility of helping Pyle through the rest of training.

Slowly, Pyle learns enough to pass muster as the trainees eventually graduate into the Marine Corps, having been trained to become order-following, cold-blooded killers. However, the cost of that process on Pyle becomes apparent as he snaps on the eve of graduation, killing Sgt. Hartman and himself in the process.

As we move into the second half of the film, just how much impact that rigorous training has had is put into question. Most notably, each of the former trainees now have much more noticeable identities - beyond the obvious of their hair growing out - and are freer to express themselves as individuals.

As the film progresses further, just how ruthless and cold-blooded these young men are when thrown into the heart of war is put into doubt. When thrown into situations that require snap-second decisions, some hesitate, some do not. No matter how much training they've gone through, war is a very different experience.

Having been dehumanised out of necessity for their training, the soldiers are dehumanised in a different way, through circumstance, by the war. The end result is that these young men have been completely torn asunder just so that they could kill people in a foreign land.

A Memorable Quote

Today, you people are no longer maggots. Today, you are Marines. You're part of a brotherhood. From now on until the day you die, wherever you are, every Marine is your brother. Most of you will go to Vietnam. Some of you will not come back. But always remember this: Marines die. That's what we're here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means YOU live forever.

Things You May Not Know

• R. Lee Ermey, who played Sgt. Hartman, was a former drill instructor himself and ad-libbed the majority of his lines.
• Stanley Kubrick had a special lens made for the scenes in the barracks so that each of the trainees could be kept in focus in the same shot so as not to single any of them out for special treatment.
• During the course of filming, Matthew Modine (Joker), got married, and conceived a child who turned one.

One of the Greatest of All Time?
As ever with a Stanley Kubrick film, there are plenty of interesting things going on and a number of really visually-striking shots that outlive the experience of viewing the film, however, there is also that typical lack of a human touch to the feel of Full Metal Jacket that can make the viewing experience feel somewhat an academic one.

Compared to the other Vietnam war film in this list, Apocalypse Now, the vision for this film is certainly much more realised. However, Full Metal Jacket comes across a little cold for my liking, especially in the looser second half of the film.