comments the first 1/2 of the film. the best DI film to date but nevertheless has small flaws

Rating: 9/10 (26 September 2007)

the first part of the movie is very well done and for the most part accurate as to the induction of raw recruits to the U.S. Marine Corps Depot Parris Island South Carolina. My only discrepancy with the boot camp part of the film is that we didn't see nearly any interaction of the assisstant DIs' to Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann(played by the great Lee Ermey) or to the GIs themselves. We got brief glimpses of the two assisstant DIs' to Hartmann. Once when Hartmann first appears on the screen and introduces himself to the recruits in the barracks. And next during lights-on reveille at the beginning of the "...do you believe in the Virgin Mary" sequence. We didn't even see them during the great scenes shot on the Obstacle Course. duh!! Those assisstant DIs are there for a reason. To assist Hartmann in the day-to-day training of the recruits. To take over when Hartmann has to be away on say family business(it's not stated in the film whether Hartmann has wife & family). The primary DI cannot do everything, that's why he has assistant DIs to aid and abet him. And the company commander, what of him? I went through Army boot camp in the mid 1980s. Hartmann in the film calls himself the senior DI. In the Army the senior DI is the top most DI of the Company which usually consists of four platoons. He, along with the Company commander, administers to all the primary & assisstant DIs' and has hands-on or limited interaction with the recruits. I don't know if this is a goof up on Kubricks part or that the Marines order of command is different and was different during the Vietnam era. Aside from the assisstant DI business, the basic training sequences are very authentic as I can say having been in the service and even though I went through in the 1980s and this film takes place at Parris Island in 1968, the general atmosphere depicted in this film would've been similar in both eras.
R Lee Ermey, Matthew Modine, Vincent D'onofrio, Arliss Howard and the rest of the cast really present to that section of the film going audience who've never worn the uniform of their country, a realistic peek into the initiation process of being in the U.S. Marines. Not everything could possibly be shown in a two hour movie but make no mistake the general gist of what you're going to encounter if you decide to join the Marines or even the Army is depicted very well here. 9 out of 10.