Platoon (1986) *****

Between 1986 and 1987 three major films were released about the Vietnam War: Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket, and Platoon. All were haunting, depressing films that finally gave the audience a feeling of what that war really was about. Platoon was probably the most celebrated of this trio. The film follows Pvt. Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) and his tour in Vietnam. The Platoon he's assigned to is separated into two factions, one led by the sadistic Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the down to earth Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe). As the film progresses the rivalry builds up until it finally explodes.

Platoon is probably one of the finest acted war films ever. Director Oliver Stone had the actors go through their own basic training before shooting the film and it helped them develop what amounts to their exhaustion that all of them feel in this film. They drag you to hell with them as they travel further and further toward death. A finely acted film.

What sets Platoon above other Vietnam war films is how personal it is. Oliver Stone wrote this film as a semi-autobiographical rebuttal to John Wayne's The Green Berets back in the mid 1970's. Stone nursed this film for a decade and his personal association with it shows on screen. What Stone shows the audience is the ideals that numerous young men went to Southeast Asia with and how all of that was flushed down the toilet as these men never knew who the enemy really was. Platoon is a chronicle of how wars with no real purpose never accomplish anything but mindless lunacy.