The Rumble in the Jungle

Rating: 8/10 (2 September 2014)

I know many will probably disagree with me, but personally I consider Platoon to be the definitive Vietnam War movie, and I say that after taking into account Apocalypse Now. Although Apocalypse Now had a number of moments of brilliance, but on the whole I think it suffers due to a disjointed script. Platoon on the other hand is intense right from the get-go. Like many of the other films dealing with the Vietnam war,in this one too,the dark, gloomy and unrelenting jungles of Vietnam serve as a separate character in itself. The soldiers find themselves trapped in the hell that we call war. Oliver Stone executes a detailed analysis of why soldiers tend to lose their sanity and their minds in the torturous conditions. There are a number of soldiers in the film who commit heinous acts and behave hideously, but considering the circumstances, it is understandable as in a hellish environment, it is not strange if people lose their humane qualities.
For me Lt. Wolfe represents the leaders and the politicians who are supposed to lead and serve ordinary people, but they have no idea what they are doing and innocents lose their lives due to their incompetence and lack of vision. Barnes and Elias represent the two schools of thought in society that generally clash at the time of war and Chris is caught in the middle who is uncertain about whom to follow.
The direction is brilliant, the cinematography is great, the scores are hauntingly beautiful,the action scenes look as realistic as possible. I think the only negative aspect for the film is that Charlie Sheen is a bit weak and unconvincing in some of the scenes.
This film brilliantly gives you a bird's eye view of the terrible experiences that soldiers had to face during the war. I felt psychologically drained just by watching this, I can't even begin to imagine how it affected the real soldiers.