Thoroughly unpleasant viewing...

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2010)

This is a very, very hard film for me to review. I was too young to be in Vietnam (thank God) and I have no idea what the real Vietnam War was like. Was it like John Wayne's THE GREEN BERETS? I am sure it was not! But, was it like PLATOON? I just don't know. Did the soldiers in the war do drugs, kill civilians and run amok? Yes, but whether or not it was the norm (like it was shown in this film), I just can't say. Some Vietnam vets I've spoken with say this film is accurate, others say it over-emphasizes isolated incidents because it has an agenda. I just don't know, especially since director Oliver Stone does have problems, at least in some films, with fictionalizing events (such as in JFK and Alexander). Regardless, it is a very powerful film.
Unlike FULL METAL JACKET, this Vietnam War film begins in Vietnam. The film opens with Barber's "Adagio for Strings" providing an appropriately somber and dirge-like musical introduction--newbie Charlie Sheen arrives as body bags are being loaded into a plane. This is the perfect music for the intro, though I must admit that later in the film it is overused just a bit--losing some of its impact.
The film revolves around young Sheen and the men serving with him--soldiers on the front lines and in the middle of the action. Over time, the whole reason for them being their and their humanity all comes into question. This struggle is epitomized in the two sergeants. One, Tom Berenger, is a bit nuts. He's willing to break the rules, kill civilians and become an animal. The other, Willem Defoe, is an equally skilled soldier but cannot allow himself to give in to his darker side. This all comes to a head when Berenger and several others viciously kill several villagers--villagers who could easily have been completely innocent and certainly did not deserve this. When Defoe swears to file a report about this, you know that eventually there will be a serious confrontation between these two men. However, it's Sheen who eventually finds himself in the middle--and you are pretty sure that it will be him or Berenger that must die. Yet, there is STILL almost an hour left in the film! The final hour is one of the most harrowing in film history. It consists of one hellacious firefight after another--culminating in a battle along the Cambodian border that ultimately kills off most of the men in the platoon--and further dehumanizes the survivors. For sheer violence and terror, I can't think of another war film that can even come close. It's practically non-stop and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
So what did I think about the film? Well, watching it was certainly among the most unpleasant experiences I have ever had! The extreme violence, the pointlessness, the horrible language and the drugs were all pretty awful and didn't make this a film for little kids, that's for sure! But, you certainly must admire it for the intensity and realism you lack in many films--traditional war films that make war seem fun or manly. You certainly can't watch this film enjoy it--and that really is a good thing when you think about it.
So, for a film that shows war in all its awfulness, you can't find one quite like PLATOON. Once again, I can't attest to the voracity of the portrait of the war, but for a vision of what war can be like, it can't fail to have a huge emotional impact. My only quibble, and it is minor, is that Charlie Sheen seemed a tad young in his role--so much so that I had a hard time accepting him as a soldier among all these men.