Platoon (1986)
Platoon is a devastating film. I feel as if I’m watching a two-hour car accident with all the hellish, gory details drawn out. A two-hour rape, a two-hour torture, a two-hour murder. It makes me cringe for the duration and leaves me sad, angry, and disgusted. The sheer impact of it is effective, all right—but is it any good?
Charlie Sheen is serviceable as Chris Taylor, the protagonist inspired by writer-director Oliver Stone and his actual experiences in the Vietnam War. At times, Sheen is downright bad in the role, smirking or throwing lines away like a disinterested amateur. Other times, he rises to the occasion well enough, but his performance, like his spiky ’80s hairdo, is largely off the mark for me.
This grim story is told from Chris’s viewpoint during a volunteer tour of duty. It takes us from the moment of his arrival to the moment of his departure, which is the whole plot. There is little in the way of backstory or character development between the opening and closing credits. At first, Chris writes to his grandmother back home, which serves as voiceover narration and offers some minimal insight. He doesn’t mention his parents, but it’s clear they don’t have a relationship to speak of. Later, as the days stretch on, he stops writing. Thus ends any insight. Chris is assigned to a platoon near the Cambodian border led by Lieutenant Wolfe (Mark Moses), an inexperienced, affable guy who struggles with his own authority. Instead, the infantry takes their marching orders from two seasoned, subordinate vets, representing polar-opposite perspectives on how to navigate the war. Both Oscar-nominated actors were cast against type, which is refreshing and works well. Tom Berenger is the scar-faced Sergeant Barnes, a hardened, brutal, “death machine” with little regard for anyone around him. Willem Dafoe is Sergeant Elias Grodin, who still has a glimmer of humanity left in him.
The story is basically a string of horrific, nightmarish episodes that take place in the bug-infested jungles of Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia. One gruesome scenario after another. The most god-awful is the destruction of a small village with its families, including the spontaneous torture of a one-legged man and the murder and rape of women and children. There is no doubt war brings out the worst in people. War has no logic when you’re on the front lines. It’s not about ideas and ideals there. Morals are obliterated when everyone is trying to kill everyone else. The devil is in the details, as they say, and this film presents nothing but details.
Perhaps that’s why, when all is said and done, I’m shocked and overwrought by Platoon, but I’m not necessarily moved by it or engaged with the story. This film doesn’t have the encompassing critical or poetic perspective of prior winner All Quiet on the Western Front. It lacks the fascinating character study at the core of a film like Patton. It’s missing the anchoring backstories of The Deer Hunter. It’s just war … for two relentless hours.
Oscar-winning editor Claire Simpson chose a temp track for the score while she worked on this film—Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” from 1936—and it stayed in the picture. It was used with great success a few years prior to Platoon in The Elephant Man (1980), and my father recalled radio stations playing it for 24 hours straight, the day Franklin Roosevelt died. It’s one of the saddest and most profoundly beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard, and it helps elicit the lacking but expected emotions in response to all the devastation.
Oliver Stone set out to deliver a sobering antidote to Hollywood’s interpretation of the Vietnam War with such films like The Green Berets. He attempts to show us what the experience was like for him and so many others. In that respect, he succeeds. The movie feels like a factual account, and I’m left reeling after I see it. It provides audiences with the nightmare and lets us try to make sense of it … if we even can.
Some call it brilliant. I think Stone misses a great opportunity to let us know what he thinks and how he feels about it. Still, this “two-hour nightmare” was powerful enough to leave its mark while capturing the Academy’s top honor.
Platoon
Director | Oliver Stone |
Primary Cast | Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, Mark Moses, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Johnny Depp |
Familiar Faces | none (no repeat performers from the previous winning films) |
Firsts | None to speak of |
Total Wins | 4 (Picture, Director, Editing, Sound) |
Total Nominations | 8 (Picture, Director, Supporting Actor: Tom Berenger, Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, Screenplay: Original, Cinematography, Editing, Sound) |
Viewing Format | Blu-ray Disc |
Comments
Platoon (1986) — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>