Deep Focus: Full Metal Jacket (1987)
In an effort to expose a larger population of readers to “classic” films, CommRadio’s Arts & Entertainment Department is providing a weekly retrospective of notable motion pictures. These movies are selected individually for their cultural and cinematic achievements. For this, the inaugural submission to the Deep Focus catalogue, our department has chosen Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 masterpiece, Full Metal Jacket.
"Full Metal Jacket" is a movie stuck between worlds. Within the sphere of film criticism, there is a conflict between the ideation of cinema as art and as entertainment.
When reading up on the newest "Avengers" or "Star Wars" flick, one is bereft with critics whose primary complaints seem to be that the movie is too commercial. But on the other hand, auteur films by luminaries such as Wes Anderson or Lars von Trier will be panned as ponderous or pretentious. Somewhere in no-man’s land is "Full Metal Jacket," an absolute touchstone in popular media that so happens to have been made by one of the greatest English-speaking directors to roam a set.
One of the most distinctive functions of this film’s structure is that it is effectively two movies in one. The first forty minutes are spent in the iconic boot camp sequence, while the second half follows Private Joker after his deployment to Vietnam.
The first half of the film is its most recognizable, the most dissected and, to some, its most poignant. The relationship between Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, portrayed immaculately by the late R. Lee Ermey, and his recruits is among the most stirring depictions of abusive power captured on tape.
Never mind how hilarious it is, despite, or perhaps because of the targeted harassment of underperforming recruits. Ermey delivers his lines with a combination of raw fury and cutting wit that is gut-busting as a viewer, but horrible to experience in person. For this reason, the second half is unfairly forgotten by many who only watch the Youtube clip compilations.
This film and its legendary creator require no introduction. But as the most accessible movie in Stanley Kubrick’s repertoire, "Full Metal Jacket" is sometimes maligned as comparatively inconsequential. This claim is nonsense. Even the most cursory viewing will reveal the wealth of storytelling and cinematic riches that lie within one of the most beloved war films of all time. With that said, and with no restraint on spoilers, we had ought to break this thing down to a scene-by-scene level.
Right off the bat, viewers are presented with the most enduring theme in the film. The goal of the Marine Corps is to breed killers, and to do so they must be stripped of their individuality and their humanity. What is a good way to visualize everyone losing their sense of self? Buzz cuts. Everyone is subjected to shearing, no matter their race, background, or personality. As they lose this reminder of the outside world, they are adopted into the world of the island.
Once on the island, recruits are putty in the hands of their drill instructors. For these folks, they are left at the mercy of the ruthless Sgt. Hartman, the man more determined than any to turn his pupils into vicious monsters. From the very start he attacks anyone who steps out of line. During introductions, he even directly states the biggest objective in the film:
“If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death, praying for war.”
Hartman continually conflates warfare with sex and religion. This would imply that war, like sex and religion, is a commendable goal that had ought to be a driving force in the lives of his recruits. Not only should they want to go to battle, they should NEED to fight.
By the time he is done, the recruits must be eager to destroy the enemy. However, some recruits are still too individual to fully accept his training. Privates Joker and Pyle, as they are dubbed by Hartman, receive the drill instructor's wrath when they fail to respond to his liking. These are the characters we will follow throughout the entirety of boot camp.
Throughout boot camp, Private Pyle stands out as the problem student. Rather than a lack of trying, he fails because he is not cut out for the Marines. Pyle is fat, he lacks discipline and he is different from everyone else. This, of course, is unacceptable to the platoon and he is routinely punished for his ineptitude.
Following multiple mishaps, Hartman assigns Joker to help Pyle. Joker is more kind and shows Pyle some respect, at which point Pyle begins to improve as a recruit. However, Pyle lapses by stealing a jelly doughnut. In response, Hartman begins disciplining all the other recruits when Pyle messes up. This does nothing to help Pyle, but it makes his peers reject and torment him, even his only friend Joker.
Through this whole sequence, it is clear that a more calm and patient approach does wonders for Pyle, but that he is instead subject to tremendous abuse.
A breaking point occurs and Pyle transforms into a capable soldier. He shows some ability with his rifle, keeps up with drills and even earns the sergeant’s praise. By all accounts, the dehumanization worked. Pyle is now the ideal killer.
All the abuse, however, did something to him. Pyle becomes disturbed and anti-social. He does not communicate with others and he talks to himself while cleaning his gun. All of which leads to the climactic scene in the latrine.
This scene tends to spoil the movie for most people. The bathroom scene is thought to be the best scene in the film, and it satisfyingly concludes the story until its conclusion.
The first forty minutes work very well as its own short film. Private Pyle is the main character, he undergoes a transformation of self and he meets a resolution after a tense and breathtaking climax. It seems as though everything has been resolved, yet over an hour remains.
The divided structure of the movie catches a lot of people off guard, but it acts almost as an anthology. Rather than being one continuous story, "Full Metal Jacket" works as a series of atrocities that Private Joker is witness to. The second half should absolutely not be overlooked, as it is just as impactful as the first, even without Sgt. Hartman’s diatribes, such as this one:
“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.”
Following a cut to black, the moviegoer is transported into an entirely different world. The song "These Boots are Made for Walkin’" by Nancy Sinatra introduces us to Vietnam and its beautiful scenery. The color palette, mood and atmosphere have suddenly done a complete 180 switch.
Coming immediately after the hardest scene in the film is the most carefree, a change so striking that it totally turns the movie on its heels. The camera is more free, the actors are given more leeway and this sequence resets everything we know about the status quo. The setting changed and so has everything else, except for Private Joker.
Joker is now a press correspondent on location in Vietnam, but he has an itch to get in the action. We get a few scenes of the wartime press acting dishonestly and of the higher ranking officials taking advantage of the situation, but nothing too irredeemable.
Joker pals around with a photographer called Rafterman. This is a point touched on earlier, nobody uses their real name. Because everyone has been collectivised into the Marine Corps everyone goes by code names, distancing the viewer from getting a tab on their identity. Sgt. Hartman was the only character referred to by name. Now, our heroes are folks with names like Joker, Rafterman, Animal Mother, Cowboy and Eightball.
For a while, the movie focuses on the devastation caused by American troops and the Vietcong. Joker and Rafterman, as fairly green recruits, are given a tour of mass graves, bombed-out cities and civilian casualties, driving home the terror of war. The soldiers that have been there a while accept that this war is hell, but the newbies still do not know the extent of it. Only after meeting conflict, aside from Cowboy, Animal Mother, and the gang, these two truly recognise the situation they find themselves in.
This scene is one which often gets overlooked, but is particularly interesting. A camera crew tours the battlefield as the Americans clear it out with artillery and heavy infantry, getting interviews with the most prominent characters. This provides an opportunity for them to verbalize their thoughts about the war, but in a censored and withheld manor that contrasts with this very vulgar picture.
What they say appears to not be the whole truth, they ham it up for the cameras, but it still gets some approximation of their distaste for the situation in which they find themselves. The only one who shows personality in their interview is Joker, who makes a mockery of it. His line is one which really stands out in this film as not only sarcastically funny, but also as a takedown of the gung-ho pro-war attitude that tries to mask the evils of armed conflict:
“I wanted to see exotic Vietnam, the jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill.” - Private Joker
After a breather during the interview section, the men are thrown back in action as they discover a lone sniper. This scene is what this whole second half slowly built to, and the payoff is enormous. The shift in visual composition is obvious, and it could hardly do a better job at encapsulating the impact of this scene.
This sequence feels like a microcosm of what failed during the Vietnam War. A whole American platoon, armed to the teeth and highly trained, is held hostage by a lone teenage girl sniping for the Vietcong. One-by-one, all the natural leaders fall.
Throughout the film, commanders have been dying and getting replaced, and this fate does not escape Cowboy, Eightball or Doc Jay, each of whom attempt to help the platoon make it to the objective. Each of their deaths are played out slowly, even taking them all down in slow motion. When Cowboy is the last one down, it is Animal Mother, the actualization of Sgt. Hartman’s perfect marine, who leads the charge to the sniper.
Once confronted by the foe, the remaining men are able to take her down, but at what cost? She almost kills Joker, who is saved only by the quick action of Rafterman, who had yet to even fire a gun for most of the movie. This is the point of no return, the pressure of the situation has made them into monsters.
The soldiers, except for Joker, celebrate this turn of events. When they look down and witness this teenager praying and gasping for breath, Joker is left with no choice but to shoot her at point-blank range. One is left thinking of the scene earlier where a machine gunner brags about murdering women and children. It is a heavy scene that carries with it many implications of the effects of war on those forced to participate.
All that remains for the platoon is to wander aimlessly outside the burning city, chanting the Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song. Lost, damaged, and no longer acceptable for civilization, the men march across Vietnam in search of the next target to destroy.
To this day, "Full Metal Jacket" is among the most beloved war films in contemporary cinema, but can it really be called a war film? Similar to its predecessors ("Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," and "The Deer Hunter") "Full Metal Jacket" uses the Vietnam War as a vehicle to tell a compelling tale about people and the way war affects them. Major battles are absent in favor of occasional skirmishes, and it is the lasting effects they leave on the survivors that carries the bulk of the narrative.
"Full Metal Jacket" was unique in its time because it went into great detail about what it is that dehumanizes people. Soldiers are not just dropped in the middle of a conflict, they are trained and broken down for weeks before they are made to endure inhumane conditions. Their transformation does not come from the fight, but from the preparation for it.
Director Stanley Kubrick had an almost unrivaled run of great films through his lengthy career, "Full Metal Jacket" being the second to last one during his lifetime. While all his movies left their mark on pop culture and the film industry, "Full Metal Jacket" was among his greatest achievements, and it deserves to be recognised as such. Make it a priority to watch this film as soon as you can.
Billy Jackson is a junior majoring in film/video production. To contact him, email wjj5064@psu.edu.
