'Paths of Glory' & 'Full Metal Jacket'

I might have a new favorite Stanley Kubrick film: "Paths of Glory."

It's amazing that Kubrick could create two anti-war bookends (so to speak) for his career: "Paths" coming out in 1957, fairly early in his career and "Full Metal Jacket" coming out in the 1987, relatively late in his career.

Both are eerily similar with themes and characters depicting the utter insanity of war, the inanity of bureaucratic and self-serving leadership and the layer of humanity pulsing beneath the thin callous of death, destruction, libido, desperation and sadness in every warrior and soldier.

It's easy to watch these two films and just wring your hands in disgust and frustration. Fucked up shit like what happened in these films have been happening since the beginning of time. It's always happened and probably -- on some level -- will keep happening as long as tribes, countries, races, religions and cultures can not get along.

However, none of that should excuse people and fighting. I'm personally not anti-war. It's my belief that as long as there's one army, there will always be two armies. If I could stand on the shore and command the waves from stop crashing and if I could take the leaders of this world by the nape of the neck and tell them peace is better than war, I could. I can't. But maybe there's someone watching "Paths of Glory" realizing the impetus behind the title (as the book was untitled) was Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard": "The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

All while singing the Mickey Mouse Club theme song or humming along to "The Faithful Hussar" with a tear in our eye.