Full Metal Jacket

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Written by: Stanley Kubrick and Michael Herr & Gustav Hasford, based on "The Short-Timers" by Gustav Hasford
Year: 1987
Genre: War drama
My rating: 4 and a half out of 5

Sometime during the middle of the Vietnam War, a group of Marine Corps recruits arrive at Parris Island for training. Their drill instructor is the cold, insensitive, and brutal Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey). Hartman barely takes a breath inbetween hurling shocking insults at the recruits, considering it his most important mission to turn them into hardened killing machines, with nicknames based on the first thing that comes out of their mouths. Much of his abuse is directed at three recruits in particular: Pvt. James T. "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine) who narrates the story, Pvt. "Cowboy" Evans (Arliss Howard), and especially the overweight and mentally slow Pvt. Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio). Pyle has a difficult time keeping up with the rest of the platoon, and he finds Hartman's insults very demoralizing and embarassing. He begins to improve with Joker's patience and help, but when Hartman discovers a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyle's foot locker, he starts to punish the whole platoon. Frustrated, they hold him down in his bunk one night and hit him repeatedly with bars of soap wrapped in towels. The experience transforms him into a socially distant but nonetheless model Marine. On the last day of training, Joker gets fire watch duty, and in the middle of the night he discovers Pyle in the head (that's bathroom to you) menacingly loading his rifle. Joker tries to calm him down, but Pyle, having clearly gone insane, stands up and starts loudly reciting the Rifleman's Creed and executing drills before taking two lives. The film then jumps forward to 1968. Now a Corporal, Joker is stationed in Vietnam as a combat correspondent for the Stars and Stripes publication. He and photographer PFC "Rafterman" are assigned to a Marine base near Hue. There they meet up with Cowboy, now a Sergeant, and his squad, which includes the nihilistic M-60 Machine gunner "Animal Mother" (Adam Baldwin). Joker and Rafterman accompany the squad into combat in and around Hue while their leaders a killed one by one.

Despite being an all-around classic of modern cinema, the most memorable aspect of the film is R. Lee Ermey's frightening portrayal of the desensitizing Sergeant Hartman. Ermey, who himself was a drill instructor during the Vietnam war, famously improvised many of his insults (and, for that matter, most of his dialogue) and is likely the only actor to have ever bested Kubrick and his controlling nature. For this, he deserves at least the Golden Globe for which he was nominated. Though it may not seem so while you're watching it, "Full Metal Jacket" can be a very thought-provoking film. It plays around with several different themes, all amidst an unblinking, action-packed glimpse of war. The one that caught my attention most is only really mentioned once. A Colonel in Vietnam asks Joker why he wears both a helmet that says "Born To Kill" and a peace sign, to which he responds, "I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man." The issue is dropped, but after the film one can look back and see that all of the characters seem neither good nor evil. Most of them are quite bloodthirsty, but at some point or another we see the humanity in them. Take Animal Mother for example, who fires his weapon as often as possible, but is very concerned for the lives of his squad. The film could also be interpreted as semi-satirical anti-war propaganda. There is a scene where reporters interview soldiers about their feelings on America's involvement in the war, and another scene where they stand around the body of a dead mate and when Rafterman says that he died for a good cause, Animal Mother points out that there is no good cause, it's a slaughter. The ending narrative, however, seems to suggest something more along the lines of the value of life. Many of the characters have conflicting views on death, and Pyle and Joker both reach breaking points concerning the decision to kill another person.


Structure/Form:
What does the title mean in relation to the film as a whole?
It refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by rifle infantrymen. It is also a line spoken by Pyle the night he goes crazy.

Why does the film start in the way that it does?
It starts with a montage of the new recruits getting their heads shaved. This leads both the characters and the audience into the hells of Parris Island and war.


Is sound used in any vivid ways to enhance the film?
There is some dramatic scoring, but there are more pre-existing songs used than in any other Kubrick movie.

What specific scene constitutes the film's climax?
Joker gets his first kill by shooting a Vietnamese sniper, a young girl.


Does the film leave any disunities at the end?
Not any particularly bothersome ones.

Why does the film conclude on this particular image?
It complements the ending narrative.



Theme:
How does this film relate to the issues presented or developed? What questions are evoked by the film? Does the film present a clear point of view on an issue? How?
See second paragraph.


Mise en Scene:
The night Pyle goes crazy, Hartman carefully approaches him and attempts to take the rifle.


Dominant: Where is our eye attracted first?
Most likely Hartman.

Lighting key: High key? Low key? High contrast? Some combination of these?
Low key, but there's some light coming in through a window.


Shot and camera distance: What type of shot? How far away is the camera from the action?
The camera sits behind Pyle and to his right, getting most of all three characters in view.

Angle: Are we (and the camera) looking up or down on the subject? Or is the camera eye level?
Eye level.


Subsidiary contrasts: What are the main eye-stops after taking in the dominant?
With all the tension, we aren't likely to be looking around much.

Composition: How is the two-dimensional space segmented and organized?
On the left we see the right half of Pyle, then Joker and Hartman in front of him.


Framing: Tight or loose? Do the characters have no room to move around, or can they move freely without impediments?
It's looser than I would expect for such a shot.