An Anti-War War Film

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 2002)

This is the first Oliver Stone film that I watched. And I did so only because it was directed by him. I found the film disturbing, quite frankly, it's an assault on the senses, visually and audibly. But somehow while in the middle of it I got the feeling that even when there's continuous firing action most of the time, the message of the film was more against war and the futility of it than for it. I know that no one expressly states that they are "for war", but wars do take place and have taken place, haven't they? In one way or the other, the past wars took place because people endowed war with many qualities it just didn't have. Brainwashed by propaganda, they were "for war" without even thinking about it. I don't know about the realism of this film, what I know is, as Sheen's character discovers, that most of his fellow soldiers were either under-educated or not well-off. Usually it's not the rich and the educated who go to war, but the most deprived of the society. I'm glad Stone showed this in the film. His film, much before Spielberg's vocal anti-war message through 'Saving Private Ryan', is a grim warning of the physical, mental and emotional destruction that a war causes.
A few minutes into the film and I knew it HAD TO absolutely have a narrator. Nowhere is the need for the protagonists voice-over more felt than in a film which is a) centered around that one person and b) has him/her in some situation of conflict, especially War and more especially on foreign soil. All this is, I think, established in the few initial minutes of the film itself. More than anything, narration acts as that one voice talking directly at you, usually in retrospect to make sense of all the chaos happening on screen. Needless to say I was most relieved when Charlie Sheen's narration started. Not only did it provide audible relief but it helped to put forth the theme of the movie. The Cast is superb, especially Willem Dafoe. I couldn't help remembering his role in the World War II film 'The English Patient' in which, though he plays a small role, he's equally brilliant. The only other film I've seen Tom Berenger in is 'Sliver' and I must say, he can be as good a hard-nosed almost psychotic Army officer as he can, a slick smooth-talking womanizer. He made my flesh creep by his nonchalant attitude towards life, or rather death... I've not seen any other Charlie Sheen film, partly because I saw him as just another pretty face on screen. I'm glad to eat my words because he's quite a man in this film! Enough said. Those who must be reading this review have likely already seen the movie and may agree that, though not very palatable, it's quite an experience...