Spoiler/military

Rating: 5/10 (21 September 2014)

The theme of this movie is during the Vietnam War, and it follows a group of Marines from boot camp to their duty stations during the war. The movie starts with the marines getting their heads buzzed down to hardly any hair but rough stubble from the very beginning of boot camp through the mental trials and tribulations of boot camp. Most of the characters in this movie when by nicknames, which is in most cases happens in any branch of military where your fellow soldiers take your last name and make a nickname out of it or just give you a simple word connection from a story you might have told about your hometown.
The main characters in this movie got their nicknames from the senior drill instructor in the barracks as he is communicating with them as they have arrived at boot camp. The main two roles are of "joker" whom makes a smart comment under his breath and the drill instructor hears him, then their his weak counterpart "Private Pyle aka Pyle" then there is "Jokers" friend "Cowboy" whom he meets later in the movie at his duty station during the war. There were others but the one I found most ironic was "Snowball" because he was a black gentlemen.
I felt through this movie that Stanley Kubrick did a great job with camera angles to make you feel as if you were part of the platoon. Many of the close-up camera angles I feel were to make you feel what the marines were going through during their training, mentally and physically. The lighting through the movie seemed very normal so that you could pay attention to the detail that was unveiling before your eyes, hence the detail because the military is very detail oriented. The only time the lighting seemed to get darker was when "Pyle" shot himself in the "head" in front of "Joker" and the drill instructor and then towards the end where they the platoon was being taken down one by one by a female sniper.
In ending I can relate to this war/military movie, I have went through the boot camp, physical and mental challenges that come with enlisting into the military of any branch. From one veteran to those who have and those who will serve our great country, Thank You!