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Platoon (1986)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
A stark, brutal, first-person account of the hell that was Vietnam, Platoon presents the extremes engendered by such a conflict and no easy answers. Transported into the humidity of Vietnam, rookie soldier Chris's (Charlie Sheen) first sight is a pile of body bags, taking his place on the return flight. As a new, untested member of his unit Chris is the lowest of the low, a total nothing to the grunts with experience. Once in the jungle, on patrol, the effect is eerie and quite beautiful. Almost total silence reigns as the crew hack their way through the dense, damp vegetation and try to avoid being ambushed. Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe) is almost the only man who cares about rookies, mainly because letting them die is simply wasteful, whilst Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) couldn't care less. The first fire-fight occurs at night when the unit have set a trap for the Viet Cong. All is quiet until, in a blinding flash, trip-wired mines detonate, machine-gun magazines are exhausted and the cries of wounded rend the air. Chris survives this baptism of fire (literally); the other new recruits are not so lucky.

The platoon is split deeply in two by the antithetical leadership styles of Elias and Barnes, with Chris finding himself drawn towards the former. Although both are highly experienced and lethally deadly warriors, Elias has retained a core of humanity while Barnes has surrendered all traces of compassion and understanding. Back at base camp Elias's group chill out with rock'n'roll and marijuana (Chris's first taste of grass), at peace with their anonymous positions within the army. A certain level of disbelief arises when Chris mentions that he dropped out of college and volunteered for duty, although by their next trip into the jungle he's been accepted as a useful soldier. This time they come across a recently deserted network of Viet Cong tunnels, which just happens to be booby-trapped. After a few men are killed (one of whom has been tied to a tree and has had his throat cut) the entire company descends on a nearby village, seething with anger and eager for revenge.

Barnes's men arrive first and use the excuse of discovering an arms cache to begin systematically abusing the villagers. Energised by fear and loathing the soldiers shoot farm animals and beat suspects; Barnes takes the situation a step further by shooting an old woman and threatening to kill her child. It seems that in order to save the Vietnamese they have to destroy them! Elias arrives on the scene just in time to prevent a bloody massacre, horrified at the behaviour of Barnes and promising a court-martial. The antagonistic atmosphere is only partially cleared by Capt. Harris (Dale Dye), who promises a full investigation but reminds everyone that they're still on the front-line and have to work as a team. A little while later a Viet Cong ambush decimates the platoon, catching them in cross-fire and causing absolute chaos. Retreating in disarray, Barnes manages to hunt down Elias alone and guns him down. Although Chris wasn't on the scene he's sure that Barnes is responsible, vowing to make the semi-psychotic sergeant pay for this murder.

Overwhelming and massively depressing, Platoon is one of the few movies to give an accurate impression of war from an infantry viewpoint. Long stretches of tedious, back-breaking slog are punctuated by hectic, vicious aural/visual/physical assaults. Heat, rain and tangled plants reduce the committed soldiers to an exhausted plod through an unchanging landscape. In contrast, the Viet Cong flit through the trees like ghosts. Barely glimpsed, the enemy rises silently from the forest floor and vanishes as easily. The moral tug-of-war which acts upon Chris (between Elias and Barnes) works superbly; these are career soldiers who started in the same place but diverged to homicidally different positions. The acting from these leads is fine, although the ensemble flotsam and jetsam provide excellent back up. However, while Oliver Stone's direction is far less overbearing than usual there are many aspects where he forces us to follow his beliefs, dismissing any ambiguity. A typical example concerns Chris's final act; are we really meant to believe that this is absolutely the "right" thing to do, whatever the provocation?

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