It was a real treat to see this remarkable Vietnam film the way it was intended to be viewed, and I couldn't help but ponder about its place in the war genre pantheon.
Although Kubrick didn't make many films, man's inhumanity to man was the closest he came to a consistent theme, and it was the topic of war that he returned to more than any other.
His first war film, the acclaimed Kirk Douglas WWI film Paths of Glory has an almost mournful tone. It's very sympathetic to the men in uniform and skeptical about the traditions and standards imposed on them by the mostly old and hardened men who command them.
He eventually followed that film up with 1964's Dr. Strangelove, which is purely about the madness of war. Sure, it's a comedy, but it also is infused with a certain righteous anger at the stupidity with which we wage war.
Full Metal Jacket may be the best fusing of those two conceits, enhanced with much more visceral violence and kinetic mise en scène. It's bravura first half (although Modine argued passionately that film is actually in thirds) is dominated by the unforgettable performance of R. Lee Ermey, a former real life drill sergeant who puts his recruits (including Modine and young Vincent D'Onofrio) through hell and systematically dehumanizes them.
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| Stanley Kubrick on the set of Full Metal Jacket |
When I try to choose my favorite war film, my first choice would usually be Apocalyspse Now. That film's mystery and gorgeous cinematography have always been irresistible to me. It's more of a pastiche than a straight forward statement about war though.
Which is why I might have to concede that Full Metal Jacket is the more completely coherent vision. Even what appear to be throwaway moments of this film are laced with meaning. Every line of dialogue seems to service a purpose.
And when the film is over there is no doubt that Kubrick left everything he wanted to on screen.
When the narrative shifts to Vietnam, you get a fully-rounded look at the US infantryman's experience. It's not as soaringly emotional as Oliver Stone's Platoon, a movie I do admire, but it's almost more matter-of-fact and documentarian.
Modine is a likable, cool presence as the hero, but he also plays things close to the vest and just when you think he is the moral center of the story, he and the narrative surprise you. Kubrick was deeply cynical about war and his film concludes that no one walks away from it unscathed or unsullied.
And yet, the film is an enjoyable one.Yes, it's more of a gallows humor variety -- but Full Metal Jacket also captures what can be thrilling about war and how real comradery can form between the most unlikely of people.
Like all Kubrick films, I appreciate it more and more every time I see it, and it occupies a unique place in his filmography as the second to last film he'd ever make. His final film, Eyes Wide Shut, arrived nine years later after much hoopla, some initial disappointment, and eventually critical re-appraisal.
Full Metal Jacket now feels like one of the best approximations of what an anti-war cinematic statement can be -- its honest, ironic, and bleak -- in the best way, and it doesn't have to compromise at earlier 20th century films did, nor does it hero worship as some of the war films the preceded and followed it did.
As someone who unequivocally views war as evil and only necessary under the most extreme circumstances, this is a movie that hits my sweet spot, and conveys more than any other movie I can think of why war is not the answer.
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