Believe it or not – but Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 masterpiece – ‘Full Metal Jacket’ (based upon the book ‘The Short-Timers’ by Gustav Hasford – linked above) – was filmed in an old Gasworks situated in (Beckton) East London. Although the set was perfectly dressed to emulate Parris Island (in South Carolina) – the place the film was set – the Set Designers forgot to change the British road markings – which clearly indicate ‘left-hand driving’! These road-markings can be clearly seen as the Recruits jog up and down the roads of what is meant to be a US Military Base used for the training of Marine Recruits.
The dehumanising and State-induced insanity of the US military system is clearly portrayed. The Bourgeois Class which controls the means of production in the US also control the Armed Forces. Although the Working-Class is oppressed and persecuted by the ruling Bourgeoisie – such individuals are also awarded and uplifted if they ‘serve’ the Bourgeois State in some decisive manner. These workers side with their oppressors and join-in with the policies of persecuting minorities, the vulnerable and those with non-White skin, etc. Of course, as Socialism would see the Working-Class wrestle control of the means of production from the Bourgeoisie – all Socialism must be attacked and stopped – or strangled in it is crib – as Churchill once opined.
My family sit through the two-hour film totally engrossed with the story of this group of White, Black and Hispanic men who are being slowly indoctrinated to kill people living in a different country because they have dared to choose a socio-economic system that empowers themselves – and defies US hegemony. Hundreds of thousands, if not ‘millions’ – of dollars are used to train, dress, sustain and equip these men. No expense is spared in their training as the Bourgeoisie wants the best military to kill those who oppose their dominance.
The Viet Cong ‘Sniper’ is a twelve-year old ‘Volunteer’ from the population of South Vietnam – who is attempting to overthrow the US military occupation during the 1968 Tet Offensive (she has been left behind as a rear-guard following the withdrawal of the North Vietnamese Army)! The part is played by ‘Ngoc Le’ but I think her name should probably be written as ‘Le Ngoc’. I cannot find anything out about her in real life – but I assume she was born in 1974 (Full Metal Jacket was filmed between 1985-1986 – and was released in 1987). One source suggests she is a British-born, Vietnamese actress. Even in Vietnamese language sources – I cannot find any mention of this actress.
The Viet Cong character, however, comes from an impoverished, feudal village that possesses NO wealth, weaponry or any modern technology. Her country had been dominated and persecuted by the French, Japanese and the Americans for hundreds of years – with even the British Army assisting the French regain control after 1945! Communist China (and perhaps the USSR) gave her an AK-47 Rifle and magazines of ammunition (although technically, this Viet Cong fighter is carrying a ‘ Sa Vz.58P’ – a Czech-made version of an Soviet AK-47).
With these, coupled with Maoist ideology, this brave young girl killed at least three of these foreign invaders whilst wounding many others! Her job was to slow down and disrupt any US military unit that traversed through her area (rather than through actual ‘Sniping’ – as this close-quarter combat is far too ‘intimate’ to be properly described as ‘Sniping’) – with little chance of her surviving these engagements! We love her because she is a ‘People’s Soldier’ who cleverly used the limited resources available to her to slow-down the US invaders. After-all, she died for our freedom!
Hundreds of years ago, the Jesuit Catholic Priests were very much the cultural Storm-Troopers of the invading (imperiaist) French! They systematically set about destroying the (non-Christian) indigenous culture of Vietnam. Part of this involved the removal of the Chinese language (ideograms) and its replacing with the French (Roman) alphabet. The Vietnamese words were phonetically spelt using the Western alphabet – as this was thought to be the first step at eradicating the influence of the Chinese religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. Over a thousand years ago, the ‘Yieh’ people were originally from ‘Southern’ (Nan) China – before they were displaced by the migrating ‘Tang’ people who moved into Southern China from the North. The ‘Tang’ today are referred to as the ‘Cantonese’.
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) – ‘South Vietnam’ – poster above conveys a ‘Fist’ smashing the enemy! It features the flags of the US, South Korea and Australia joining together to save ‘South Vietnam’! Ironically, the resisting people of ‘North’ and ‘South’ Vietnam have already ‘United’ (Đoàn Kết) – but not with the West! That is to say that the Regular NVA (North Vietnamese) and the guerrilla Viet Cong (South Vietnamese) – work together as two parts of the Communist Party that administers the entire country! The young Viet Cong girl has been given the honour of defending the NVA flag (now the National Flag of a ‘free’ and ‘united Vietnam) on her own (in what looks like some kind of ‘temple’ according to the Chinese script written on the walls) – after the NVA has withdrawn back across the 17th Parallel into North Vietnam. The Tet Offensive of 1968 (planned by General Giap) smashed US morale – but cost the Vietnamese dearly. Many Vietnamese believe this cost was worth it as it gave Vietnam its freedom – and the Vietnamese achieved this by correctly applying the ideology of Marxist-Leninist-Maoism! Stanley Kubrick, of course, subtly ‘changed’ the original message in the book – whilst still using the framework of the story. The story becomes the fate of the young girl at the end – killed by a group of American men who were trained – and then sent to kill her.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 