Partly real/partly political

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2002)

The acting by Dafoe and Beringer was top notch. However, while this movie fairly accurately portrayed the day-to-day miserable conditions under which an infantryman fought in Vietnam (or any war), most of the plot is largely symbolic: "good seargent" (Elias) versus "evil seargent"(Barnes) who are "fighting for the soul" of FNG Chris Taylor (Sheen). The depiction of the squad on night ambush, trying to stay awake in the rain after humping the bush all day--truly a realistically miserable portrayal. But Sheen's later savvy, getting out of the bunker just before an RPG hits it, was uncharacteristic of his character. His spectacular one-man charge at the NVA in the middle of the firefight would have realistically gotten him killed. Sheen's background narration often verged on the corny and derisive, such as in describing the rest of the platoon: "They were society's losers, Grandma--the bottom of the barrel" (or words to that effect), and does a disservice to Vietnam infantrymen. It also repeats the old stereotype that only young draftees fought the war and died there (not true!). The village "massacre scene" was just Stone's grinding his own political axe. Such events were truly rare or we would have much more documentation on them. Read the book "Platoon: Bravo Company", by Robert Hemphill, the real commander of the unit portrayed in Platoon. A somewhat different perspective than that portrayed by Stone. I speak from experience, as an infantry veteran of the Vietnam War.