Good depiction of bad dreams

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2001)

Stanley Kubrick takes on boot camp and Vietnam in "Full Metal Jacket" and delivers nicely. The dehumanizing (meaningfully, more so than mechanistic) drill instructor and tough camp fit in well with Vietnam--both represent meaningless exercises, with violence and a touch of insanity. People become nonpersons, violence is a viable instrument of mechanistic existence, and Vietnam is nowhere, nothing, the journey into the abyss. Snipers and jungle, no win, no lose, dark, amoral, disturbing.
Kubrick blends in elements of the surreal, using slow motion and generally good cinematography, to convey his message, which has elements of satire. One recruit has the worst time, but his ultimate reaction (in boot camp, before Vietnam) is more noteworthy for being paranormal than violent. And Kubrick's visual interpretation of Vietnam, from which his viewpoint can be abstracted, is well worth watching.