Platoon (1986)

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Writer/Director: Oliver Stone

Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley



The first film written and directed by a veteran of the Vietnam War explores both the lived experience of ground troops engaged in jungle warfare and the essential nature of man in response to the extremes of war.

 


Under the weak leadership of an untested lieutenant, every man is forced to choose between two sides; the men who side with Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) are quick to abandon their humanity while those who stand with Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe) support each other and try to temper the insanity that war can release.

 


This is the true conflict of the film: the North Vietnamese soldiers themselves are rarely seen, making their presence felt with ominous evidence of their passage and attacks that seem to come from nowhere.

 


Oliver Stone depicts a situation that is only barely under control until the moment things go completely out of control.

 


His terrific cast trained together in the jungle for months to portray hardened foot soldiers convincingly. 



Charlie Sheen, very effective in this early performance, shares the distinction with Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now) of being a father-son duo who separately starred in arguably the two most consequential American films ever made about the Vietnam War.

 


The inclusion of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is perhaps the single most effective use of a classical piece in a motion picture soundtrack.






































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