A Reel 25

"God has a hard-on for Marines…”

This month marks the 25^th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s FULL METAL JACKET.

An adaptation of the 1979 novel THE SHORT-TIMERS by Gustav Hasford, FULL METAL JACKET follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through recruit training, and the experiences of two Marines of the platoon during the Vietnam War.

Although often looked at as an anti-war film, Kubrick’s mission was to present a realistic picture of war. The film begins the way every soldier’s military career starts; in boot camp. Serving as an extended prologue, the boot camp storyline is powered by R. Lee Emery’s remarkable performance as the ruthless Drill Instructor. Emery, a former Marine himself, ad-libbed most of his lines, and his performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Once the film graduates boot camp and shifts to the war, the story transforms. Where the boot camp sequence seemed to follow a focused storyline, the rest of the film tracks along with no real shape; there is no endgame, no mission, no ultimate goal for the heroes to reach. This was perhaps Kubrick’s idea of what war is; nonsensical killing with no endgame.

Using the Tet Offensive as a backdrop, Kubrick veered the film away from the traditional Hollywood ‘Nam film which always kept things in the jungle. With burnt-out husks of buildings serving as set-pieces, the film has a dismal look to it; perhaps another subtle message by Kubrick. And the photography stands as one of Kubrick’s best. His constant eye for depth-of-field is always present. If FULL METAL JACKET was ever converted to (goddamn) 3D, the depth of the film would look incredible.

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With two family members having served in the Vietnam War, this Blogger readily accepted FULL METAL JACKET into the upper echelon of ‘Nam films. The initial viewing was scary; the boot camp was enough to frighten anyone away from signing up, and the revelation of the sniper at the climax still remains a shocker. FULL METAL JACKET often gets overlooked because it is unfairly compared to Oliver Stone’s PLATOON, which won Best Picture the year before. But JACKET stands on a different world than PLATOON. It is a birds-eye view of the war; philosophical and moral, with just enough blood to make the grass grow.

“The dead only know one thing: it is better to be alive.”