Platoon

Overall spoiler free review This is the best war film that I have ever seen. War is shown in so many different ways that creates so many powerful emotions throughout the entire film. The acting is amazing from start to finish by both extremely and semi important characters. The story is very well told and pays as a well made tribute to the people who fought and died fighting other people’s wars. Definitely watch this film, if not for a cinematic masterpiece, for an extraordinary message and depiction of something that has not stopped since prehistoric times. Possible spoiler warning I will start by covering the scene that highlights this film better than any other scene in this does which is the village scene. Having a disgusting comedic moments like the one legged dance scene created a very important dehumanisation in the soldiers which many war films forget to include. Many war films show the soldiers as just pawns in the politician’s grand game of chess whereas this one shows soldiers attempting to rape a young girl and even also pointlessly shooting at a one legged man who was causing no threat. To me this is a big deal. It is also in this scene where we see Sgt Barnes become the villain of the film where he shoots a woman simply for crying and later holds a gun to a little girl’s head. Such a disgusting scene ending with men safely escorting the village folk out of the now burning village just shows how nothing that happened in there was personal to the villagers which can have the audience both hate and sympathise with the Platoon. Some may interpretate this scene as soldiers just doing their job and safely removing people from a dangerous situation that they have to create due to orders. Others may see this as soldiers invading a village, ruining, and ending, the lives of innocent people and then escorting them out so that they can leave as if nothing ever happened. It is clear that the director intended both views to be seen as during this exit a young girl is stripped and raped by soldiers who see themselves in charge of these people creating an authoritarian aspect to the soldiers who are constantly seen as victims but in this same scene this poor woman is saved by a Chris as he shows true passion and humanity by shouting to stop and the powerful line “she’s a human being” as he gets mocked. This to me shows that both views on this scene are correct. Some soldiers are taking there situation as a chance to be evil and show inhumanity towards the people and world around them whereas some people like Chris and Elias show that this situation is so much deeper than a simple play about with guns. This leads me to talk about how humanity in soldiers is presented throughout the film. I have already included the village so I do not need to go over it again. The humanity of soldiers is constantly challenged throughout the film with the film starting with an on point team that makes a mess up during the night leading to men showing pressure and distrust in one another. By the end of the film all of the soldiers show their very true colours. You have men scream and begging to go home before a horrific battle and even men faking conditions or desire for a holiday. One of the lines that I constantly go over in my head is when King says “Remember, ain't no such thing as a coward out here. Don't mean nothing” to his comrades before his exit. These words really come into mind as the battle starts and you see some men start to flee for their lives and even hide under dead bodies. I think that King’s words are important to keep in mind as you see these events unfold as you realise that these men are afraid are not here out of patriotism or desire to he a hero but rather because of force by their country. The acting in this film is so raw and high emotion mainly anger. There are so many moments where soldiers just shout and shout and shout which usually is a sign of weak acting but in a film like this it is the only way to act this incredible script. My personal favourite performance was Tom Berenger as Sgt Barnes. He will forever go down as one of the greatest villains of all time. I am obviously also going to mention Willem Dafoe for doing a wonderful job with Elias. Both of these two perfectly portrayed their characters who clearly represent the two different sides of soldiers that I covered earlier in my review. Charlie Sheen also caught my eye many scenes as to me his character represented humanity. The way I believe the importance of the main characters is: Elias represents a good man as a soldier. Chris represents a human as a soldier. Barnes represents a soldier. The philosophy I see in this film is all about war and how the soldiers are not here out of wanting to protect their glorious countries. In the words of Bon Dylan “only a pawn in their game”. The music is really good but not a massive highlight of the film. The cinematography is an absolute master class. So many freeze framed shots in this film tells you so much about what is happening to the world and portrays war and soldiers beautifully. Fuck war!