Platoon movie

Francois Truffaut said that it's not possible to make an anti-war movie, because all war movies, with their energy and sense of adventure, end up making combat look like fun. If Truffaut had lived to see "Platoon," the best film of 1986, he might have wanted to modify his opinion. Here is a movie that regards combat from ground level and it does not make war look like fun.

"Platoon" was directed by Oliver Stone, who himself experienced a war life in Vietnam and who tried to make a movie about the war that is just a memory of what he remembers from that part of his life.

The movie is narrated by a young soldier, a college student who volunteers for the war because he considers it his patriotic duty. There are no false heroes in this movie - the narrator is at the verge of physical collapse, because of long marches, no sleep, ants, snakes, cuts, bruises and constant, enormous fear. His physical condition was shown clearly and in somehow gripping way. What fascinated me, when I was watching this movie was that here is no carefully mapped plot to lead us from point to point; instead, like the characters, we are usually disoriented.
There is the clear sense of danger all around, and the presence of civilians who sometimes enrage the troops just by standing there and looking confused and helpless.

After seeing "Platoon," I was wondering why Stone was able to make such an effective movie about true image of war. He abandoned the choreography that is present in almost all such movies. He also didn't explain clearly where the various forces were in relation to each other, so that we never knew where "our" side stands and where "they" are. Instead of stereotypical battle scenes in which lines are clearly drawn, his combats are quite different -any shot might be aimed at friend or enemy, and soldiers never have a clear idea of exactly who they are shooting at, or why.


Identifying with the soldiers, we feel that if we duck behind this tree or jump into this ditch, we will be safe from the fire that is coming from over there. This film has specific climate that allows a viewer to feel as if being in the middle of warfare.

The Vietnam War was a very important political issue of the last quarter-century and almost every person in the world was interested in the result of this conflict. It has inspired some of the greatest recent American films but "Platoon" should be made before any others. A film that says that before you can make any vast statements about Vietnam, you have understand the very bottom of this problem, that is a lot of people who fought and got killed and what this war meant for them.


"Platoon" trailer - just watch and see that it is really not the ordinary war movie:

source: www.rogerebert.com