Somewhere among the Vietnamese whores, sadistic drill sergeants, and soldiers who know as little about their souls as they do about why they are fighting, there is Full Metal Jacket. From boot camp to battleground, the film explores the contours of degradation, dissolution, and destruction that was the Vietnam War.
In the first section that takes place during recruit training, R. Lee Ermey is brutally good as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, a man bursting with an arsenal of creatively hateful jokes. A former Marine Drill Instructor, Ermey was brought in to coach the actor they had originally chosen for the role. He was hired after yelling obscenities for fifteen minutes without flinching while being pelted with tennis balls. Now that shows real dedication to dehumanizing epithets.
The demise of Private Pyle (Vincent D’Onofrio) is one of the most haunting in movie history. He is a weak and troubled recruit whom the protagonist Private James T. "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine) helps out at first; but when Joker participates in his bullying instead of defending him, Private Pyle is changed forever; and the result is unforgettable.
The wonder of Kubrick is that he can assimilate disparate emotive elements while maintaining his cerebral style. He is one of the only directors who could integrate the holy (cinematographer Douglas Milsome’s almost spiritual understanding of lighting renders the barracks otherworldly); the hilariously disturbing (Hartman’s high jinks); and the horrific (the war’s obliteration of the spirit) into one film--and often into one scene.
Kubrick combines a light soundtrack and moments that could be accompanied by a laugh track with the dehumanization and unintentional beauty of battle. The resulting paradoxical emotions echo the sensations of war. In the end, the film's demons, at once intoxicating and repulsive, reach out of the screen and possess the viewer.
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As an aside, a year ago I posted here on a story that includes Matthew Modine and there are three photos that I took of him that are shown in that photo essay:
http://open.salon.com/blog/designanator/2008/11/13/birds_of_prey_day_complete_with_celebrities
Rated.
This gets at a big question: Do films help or hinder our perception of reality? By giving us an entertaining version of reality, does that really change our minds about blowing people up? (It doesn't seem to be working---if that was the intention.)
"I love you long time Joe," is my favorite line
I think Pyle was weak minded; he would have frozen in combat, or run, and in the latter case, Gunny would have had to shoot him in the back; they should have just sectioned 8 his fat weak minded ass, although the blanket party was brutal, but that beats running the gauntlet like the Koreans in the North still do if they make a Gomer Pyle, with riffle butts, or being in the best killing machine ever: Spartans rule!
Although, actually, my favorite line was from Gunny:
Gunny: "Who was charles whitman?"
Scared Marine: "Uh he killed the people at the tower, sir."
Scared Marine: "He got off 45 shots in 15 minutes and killed thirteen people and wounded 32. Put two rounds through multiple targets. Good shooting."
Gunny: "Who was Lee Harvey Oswald?"
Scared Marine: " He killed Kennedy sir."
Gunny: "He got off three shots in five seconds with a bolt action rifle at a moving target with two shots in the ten ring. What is the lesson?"
Scared Marine: "I don't know sir?"
Gunny: "It shows you what a well motivated Marine can do with his rifle."
Or, maybe this, which my pacifist uncle at Paris Island talked about;
"Every night they have us recite this; this is my rifle, this is my life..."
he said that even though he liked woodstock, by the end of boot camp, he wanted to kill communists in vietnam. fortunately, he want back to the band in santa cruz.
Now, that was a well-trained lean, mean killing machine by gunny, although, maybe they should make a new cadence run.
"why did the chicken cross the road?
to get to the other side
why we in afghanistan
we gone kill the taliban
why we kill the russians
they have nuclear weapons
why we kill the chinese
they destroyed our economy
why'd we go to iraq
put the oil in a marine corps sack
why we doin all this shit
somebody's the man babe we're it.
thanks again for reminding me to watch this again. peace
somebody's the man babe we're it."
designanator: I remember the first time I saw it very clearly as well. It's just one of those things you remember, I guess.
Torman: It's a very interesting point you make. Movies are good for making you consider things, but that's all it is--a consideration and not an experience. It all takes place within the safe space of simulation, while some people really fought in Vietnam. Thanks for getting me thinking.
littlewillie: me too, me too. oof.
berrycomposer: while movies can never truly recreate real life, I like to think they have an impact on it. That said, I'm not sure anything could convince people to stop blowing each other up for good. ah life.
bobbot: well said. We do get a much better idea from your great pieces, though.
Philip: that's funny. So maybe the movie did affect real life combat, but only to glorify it or make it seem funnier or more exciting. intriguing. People say that people emulate romantic comedies in their relationships and porns in the bedroom; maybe they also emulate war movies when they are really at war.
Don: wow, you wrote your own mini-movie there, huh? Glad it brought back memories. I gotta say I felt for Pyle, though; and although it's a very good war movie, I can't say I'm off the 'blow those suckers up school of thought" when it comes to war. I think it's complex and that the best movies (this one included) reflect this.
Holy Shit Joker! Journalist, Do you think you're Mickey Spillane!
Rated.
Of course, as Torman very accurately points out, it falls woefully short of the reality.
Good review, Caroline. It was a very significant film, one of Kubrick's best.
-R-
Jimmy: that's a good point. It was almost 2 separate films, except that that ended up strengthening it because you see the transition from training to war.
Carolina and Thoth: thank you!
The Wright Sight: very haunting...
1. Apocalypse Now
2. The Deer Hunter
3. Platoon
4. Full Metal Jacket
Sorry I had to put Full Metal Jacket in 4th place, but after the brilliant first segment, the rest is a little bit of a letdown. Didn't see "Coming Home," although people speak highly of it. And I have a place in my black wooden heart for cheesy exploitation movies like "Rambo" and "The Green Berets."