Shot entirely on location in England, Kubrick used still photographs of the city of Hue to build his own warzone in London's Docklands, where Becton (an abandoned 1930s gaswork town) became Kubrick's Vietnam. Full Metal Jacket is his representation of Vietnam, and it is a darkly comic and impenetrably private vision. Essentially it is almost documentary in its form, making its subject matter the only thing it has in common with grandiose epics like Apocalypse Now or The Deer Hunter. It is unquestionable that you couldn't get closer to Boot Camp training without signing up than you do in the films first half, this overwhelming accuracy is reinforced by the fact that Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is played by Lee Ermey, who was a former Parris Island drill instructor. Kubrick originally hired him to work on the film as a technical adviser, but he was given the part after Kubrick observed the way he handled actors during casting session improvisations. The majority of the outrageous insults he hurls at the recruits were Ermey's own creations, and during the films first 45 minutes it wouldn't be foolish to mistakenly believe you"re watching genuine footage of Marine basic training, that is how high the level of realism is.
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"If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be.
a weapon, you will be a minister of death praying for war".
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman - Full Metal Jacket.
The authenticity of Full Metal Jacket is maintained when the action shifts to Vietnam. What separates Full Metal Jacket and Hamburger Hill apart from other Nam films is that they choose to portray genuine events from the war. In Hamburger Hill it was the battle of in May 1969 for possession of Hill 937 (Hamburger Hill), but in Full Metal Jacket Kubrick focuses the action on the much maligned Tet Offensive.
