Platoon

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2006)

Platoon
A movie by Oliver Stone (1986) with a strong cast. Late sixties, full blown war in Vietnam. Lots of different characters were there in war, and everyone there had his own story and background. It' s nice to see that these characters are very well build by Stone, who plays a very small part in the movie. The stupidness of the war is clear in this movie and no man there, Vietnamese or American is very happy with the situation, it s all politics. The movie starts with new soldier Chris Taylor (Sheen) who comes right into action in a very diverse battalion with sgts Barnes and Grodin (Berrenger and Dafoe), the first a killing machine and the second a man who fights for the goods of the war. The rest are a mixture of mainly poor under developed soldiers who take this chance to fight to escape from daily poverty. From day one they are in the fire-line at the border with Cambodja and the fights are heavy and ruthless. Every day people die and there s hardly a day of rest. The only real leisure time is when they can smoke some dope, to forget reality. Berrenger and Dafoe are constantly in a sort of fight and the Leuitenant is not really man enough to control everything. Soon there are two groups in the camp and this makes them more vulnerable for the enemy. At the end no one could really see the situation clear with a massive slaughter as a result. Chris Taylor is a volunteer in the war, because he wanted to do something for his country, but at the end he feels he could do almost nothing to change the situation.