What it feels like to be at war

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 1999)

I saw this movie on its opening day in 1986 in great anticipation and was not disappointed. A movie truly worthy of the honor "Best Picture", Platoon familiarized war without trivializing it.
The effectiveness of this film lies almost entirely in its cinematography. We are chucked into the center of the Vietnam jungles with the soldiers and director Oliver Stone finds the exact method to re-create the chaos. We never see the enemy - unlike most other movies of its kind, Platoon keeps the enemy hidden and leaping at you from all corners. I sat in my chair, mouth agape and horrified within 10 minutes of the start of this movie and it is this simple technique that creates the effect.
Platoon is a towering technical achievement and also an outstanding story of loyalty (personal and to your country) and betrayal - well acted and brilliantly cast.
This is a film that will linger with you for months - in the same way Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List did (or at least should have). Platoon is easily worthy of mention with those two films, or any other. **** out of ****.