Platoon (1986)

 Platoon (1986)

“Somebody once wrote, ‘Hell is the impossibility of reason.’ That’s what this place feels like. Hell.”-Chris Taylor

Wow! That exclamation was the first word out of my gaping mouth after sitting through Oliver Stone’s Platoon. Stone’s movie follows in the footsteps of other great Vietnam War films from the era such as The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, and The Killing Fields. Stone’s visceral approach gave the infamous war its most realistic story yet. Of sorts, this film is an autobiography of Stone’s experience in Vietnam. I loved how he gave no clear vision whether the soldiers in the platoon are good or bad. Yes, the main enemy is the Viet Cong. In the end, the soldiers had to face malaria-carrying mosquitoes, unknown swampy terrain that could hide the enemy, and each other. Some of the soldiers lose their sense of what’s right and wrong and could be a danger to one another. Stone made sure his audience is well aware of that sense.

The film took years to receive the proper funding and studio release. The basics of the film came into play when Stone wrote a screenplay called Break which detailed his war experience. In the 1970’s, some basic ideas from that script became The Platoon which would have secured producer Martin Bregman, director Sidney Lumet, and star Al Pacino. Those plans fell apart and his writing skills were used for the excellent 1978 feature Midnight Express. Despite the critical and financial success, Stone still had trouble getting his pet project made. He dabbled in the horror genre with limited success, but once his script moved into the hands of British producer John Daly, Stone finally got the movie made. It went on to be a huge success ultimately winning the big prize at the Academy Awards.

Like most war films, the battle sequences are expertly shot (although the darkness sometimes make it hard to figure out what is going on) and thrilling, but that is where any similarities end. Stone purposely made his movie a character drama about the horrors of war taking the soldiers into the long, dark descent into madness and despair. Within the platoon, there is no good guy or bad guy. It is whoever is standing the longest that wins. The movie asks long, hard questions about morality within a war setting. People head to war wanting to play the hero, but instead they are surrounded by death and heroism is nowhere to be found. Stone drills these points home as he does not hold back.

This film centers around Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), a young, naïve American college student looking to play the hero role as he goes to Vietnam to fill his patriotic duty. As soon as he arrives, he learns that he is a nobody because members of his platoon served longer and saw combat. He platoons with people like King (Keith David), Big Harold (Forest Whitaker), and Lerner (Johnny Depp). He has two platoon commanders; the ill-tempered Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the more human-friendly Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe). When the platoon comes to a village and commences in an illegal murder, trouble brews within the platoon itself. Is it time to the pick the right side or is there no truly right side?

The acting is phenomenal. Under the direction of Oliver Stone, Charlie Sheen delivers in a big way. His portrayal of the innocent becoming changed for the worse is heartbreaking. Willem Dafoe, as he always does, likewise delivers a strong, intense performance as one of the good sergeants that is fueled by alcoholism. Tom Berenger captivates you with his performance as he loses all traits that would make him a capable commander. The film features a variety of familiar faces such as Forest Whitaker and the very young Johnny Depp. Like I have seen people say, this film is a three-man show. The realism is astounding especially within the military outfit.

In addition to the expert direction and superb performances, the cinematography and the music are also important highlights. Robert Richardson gave us some iconic images that we would forever haunt us. Georges Delerue’s use of “Adagio for Strings” is bound to make you emotional.

Overall, Platoon can be a movie that is hard to digest. It takes away any conventionality that we know from war movies and replaces it with hard realism. When Stone was doing anything he could to get his film made, he was told that the aforementioned movies about Vietnam War are reasons why he should not make this film. Well, he made one that is just as good. My only complaint is that the movie can be too dark to follow at times but then again, that is all part of the realism that Stone wanted to show us. If you do not think madness will envelop you, I implore you to give the movie a watch.

 

My Grade: A-