Oliver Stone's 'Platoon' Review

The other night I watched the movie ‘Platoon’ that came out in 1986 and was both Written and Directed by Oliver Stone. Stone is known for other historical dramas like ‘JFK’, ‘Born on the Fourth of July’. However I believe neither of these go as deep into war as 'Platoon', which completely takes place in Vietnam and does not hesitate to show the horrors of war. The story follows an American soldier named Chris played excellently by Charlie Sheen, who experiences the struggles of Vietnam and sees the evil not only among the enemy but also among his fellow American soldiers. It is refreshing to see Charlie Sheen in a movie back when he was more of a respected actor. Now, I mostly only see him in comedies. Soon into Chris's tour, he becomes close with his Sergeant, Elias. Elias is played by Willem Dafoe who got nominated for an Oscar in one of the actors early performances. Elias is a stereotypical soldier who fights for his country with pride, but he is a good person who tries to prevent some of the shady stuff many American soldiers did to villages overseas. Chris relates to him in this way, becoming unsettled as some of his fellow soldiers torment, kill, and rape villagers in Vietnam. For having these beliefs, he finds himself at risk of another ruthless Sargeant, Sgt. Barnes. 

What I like about this film compared to other war films is that it doesn’t just mention the bad things that Americans did throughout these events. An average film will bring it up but just glaze over it instead of digging deeper into the subject. I’d almost rather just have a film that doesn’t bring it up if they aren’t going to go in depth. While these things are uncomfortable to watch, they are necessary pieces of our history to explore. However in this case when it is actually fleshed out, the viewer doesn’t only see the bad things some people did, but they can see another heroic American stop that person. So just because a war movie has an evil man in charge like Sgt. Barnes, doesn’t mean it has to be over the top negative and depressing. Once the writer adds someone like Chris, it makes for an interesting dynamic that builds hope within the story. After I saw the film, I watched a video that was about a familiar debate. 'Are All War Movies Really Pro War?' on the youtube channel titled Learning about Movies, was an interesting watch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFO0G62qceo). I was always under the impression/opinion that war movies were mostly anti-war. This doesn't change my opinion that much, but it makes me think of it in a different light. The speaker goes into the movie 'Jarhead' and how the author of the book it is based on views war movies as a former soldier. Very unsettling, but interesting stuff.

‘Platoon’ is now one of my favorite war films and is for sure my favorite Oliver Stone film. His other work hasn't really done much for me overall. 'Natural Born Killers' isn't awful, but I only know it as a rewritten Tarantino screenplay. While I haven't read the original, I can only imagine that his rendition of the story would have been a little higher in quality. 'Born on the 4th of July' and 'JFK' are both very well made movies, but they don't do too much for me. Platoon, on the contrary, is something that has aged incredibly well and has more than a few iconic scenes.