The last of a dying breed?

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2009)

This is not an epic movie. There are no heroes, no legendary feats in this movie, it's no band of brothers, it's a Kubrick film. And it's a fantastic one. Kubrick never did in complex scenarios, the plot in this movie, is simple, a group young Americans being trained to join the marines forms the first part, which to me is the main one. You can see Kubrick's work at its best in that first part. Seargeant Instructor Hartman, what a character! He is in your face from the first minute of the film, and those scenes at the camp were wonderfully shot. Close ups to bank on actors' performances and add intensity to the scenes, and intense they were. The humiliating and degrading treatment imposed by the Sergeant Instructor to the whole group, especially to Pvt Pyle, is frightening. The star performer in that first part to me has got to be Pvt Pyle. The scenes are shot in a succession of defining events, so that your eyes are scotched to the screen.
The second part takes place in Vietnam, a Vietnam ravaged by war. Now I have to admit here that there have been better war movies shot in the heat of battle if you are looking for spectacular, rapid, grandiose fighting. Apocalypse Now would be a superb example. But here Kubrick, offers a more intimate view of fighting and always keeps it simple but pleasing on the eye. Many will say that the first part is of higher quality than the second, it could be true. But I think that the second part had to be shot in this way, nothing too over the top, a plot so simple and intense, so that it is difficult to forget. Do you remember most of the scenes in saving private ryan? No matter how much you prepare for war, how well trained you are, you can never be ready for the real thing. At the camp, the guys were subjected to the worst kind of treatment and yet in Vietnam, the war is a different proposition. Each war is different, the Vietnam war was not the same as the second world war when you knew what you were fighting for. It is certainly different to what is going on right now. But the films treating the subject of Vietnam war will be rarer and rarer, Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket are the best three films on Vietnam war. Therefore, Kubrick's work here should be a collector's item even if as an adrenaline junky, you could see better war films.