Platoon - Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray [4K UHD]

The Counterpoint. The realism shines through. I first saw “Platoon” not long after it was released in 1986. The vast majority of Vietnam War movies I thoroughly detest, commencing with “The Deerhunter,” the only movie I have ever rated 0-stars. “Platoon” though is vastly different. And for a good reason. It was the first Hollywood Vietnam war movie that was directed by a veteran of that war. And not just any veteran, who slaps the yellow, red and green tri-color decal on the back of his car. Oliver Stone was 11-Bravo. Infantry. Bizarrely, because he asked to be. For eight months, September 1967 to April 1968 he was with the 25th Infantry Division, based in Tay Ninh province, which is immediately adjacent to a long Cambodian border, including what the press dubbed “the Parrot’s beak.” Stone is also my coeval, with only a month separating our births. There was precisely one year between the commencement of our tours in Vietnam.Race, religion, sexual orientation, age, and now vaccination status, these are some of the ways we slice and dice humanity into different compartments. In Vietnam, there were yet more categories that defined one’s identity: “RA” and “US.” Those who enlisted and those who were drafted. Charlie Sheen plays Chris Taylor, the semi-autobiographical character who represents Oliver Stone himself. One of the great bits of dialogue from the movie is when a black soldier, obviously a draftee, finds out that Taylor VOLUNTEERED for the infantry: “…what we have here is a crusader…” and when Taylor responds meekly about duty et al. the draftee retorts: “you got to be rich in the first place to think like that.” Another slice and dice was the difference between the “short-timers” and the “FNG’s”, the soldiers who recently arrived, captured by the subject line, which was so true. If one had only 20 days left, it truly was impossible to remember back when one was facing the impossible, seemingly infinite “332.” Another scene that strongly resonated was when one soldier with only a few days left was spared going out on one more patrol and allowed to depart by helicopter for the rear.Only 5%, maybe 10% at most, of the American soldiers who are authorized to wear that red, green and yellow tricolor experienced what is depicted in this movie. And Stone depicted it brilliantly: it starts with Taylor arriving and seeing the body bags, and then segues into the heat, humidity, insects, snakes, rain, falling asleep on guard duty, carrying too much stuff, FNG screw-ups, worthless lieutenants circumvented, calling in artillery on one’s own position, the “M” on the forehead, written with the soldiers own blood, meaning morphine had been given, and that awful dread, which would sometimes turn into reality, of having one’s position overrun and in the chaos, not knowing who was who.The essential slice and dice, the very core of this excellent movie that deals with a haunting matter so few others do: the psychopaths and those who tried to retain a shred of human decency. “You just can’t rape her… she is a **** human being.” “What are you, homosexual?” It’s the “332” problem, writ large. It was in all our movies: those (wonderful) French women lining the roads, throwing flowers, as the Americans raced to liberate Paris (and yes, cherie, we had the bubble gum). That was the way it was going to be in Vietnam as we helped the heroic and freedom-loving South Vietnamese… And the reality was, every Vietnamese was the enemy and there were no flowers.Stone captures that terrible conundrum. Days and days of bugs and humidity, a couple buddies blown up by booby traps, a village with a “rice cache,” but more importantly, actual arms hidden. Only women, children and old men. “Waste it.” For the Vietnamese never to say: “no bic” to a GI, because it is infuriating. After enough rain and mosquitoes, it was understood that ALL the Vietnamese understood English, if you just spoke it loud enough. Tom Berenger does such an excellent job of playing Sergeant Barnes, the psychopath and William Defoe does an equal job playing Sergeant Elias, hardly a bleeding-heart liberal, just someone who somehow has retain an internal moral gyroscope. The platoon is split in two, between the factions. The two sergeants literally get into a fistfight and later, despite (or because of?) Elias’ gyroscope, he and his faction talk of killing Barnes.More than half a century later, that civil war between the two factions of that particular slice and dice continues, not (fortunately) with violence but by refusing to recognize the validity and honor of those who served and said NO when their time came.Père Lachaise, France’s most famous cemetery. There are so many threads and themes to this movie, and one involved that cemetery. Stone originally offered the role that Sheen would play to Jim Morrison, of the Doors, who is buried in that cemetery, a site of pilgrimage for many a young woman who was not even alive when Morrison O.D.edIn 2018 actor Paul Sanchez, who played Doc in the movie, made a documentary about the making of film, entitled “Platoon: Brothers in Arms.” I definitely intend to watch it, having found the movie on the making of “The Battle of Algiers” utterly fascinating.Finally, there is: “Happy men don’t enlist.” So proclaimed Alec Guinness, who played the character of Yevgraf, in Dr. Zhivago, as he saw the euphoria and the hats tossed in the air when the Great War commenced. So, why did Stone do it? Maybe the first “mistake” was understandable: a sense of duty, or more likely, to be where the big story was, and like Norman Mailer, already having decided to depict it. But having survived 8 months in the infantry, wounded twice (which the rules said were enough to get you permanently out of the field and perhaps home)… why, oh why, (somehow) transferring to the First Air Cav to be a LRRP? Again, why, oh why, extend beyond the required 365 days? There is still more to this story; hopefully it will be told.But for what Stone has done in “Platoon,” a perfect antidote to John Wayne’s “The Green Berets,” as Stone intended, 5-stars, plus.

My rating is more of a 4.5Thanks for reading!𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆: '𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏.'𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆.𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍.In what used to be described as the longest war in American history, the Vietnam war took place between November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975; this conflict primarily saw the communist government of North Vietnam at odds with the government of South Vietnam.The United States being one of South Vietnam’s largest allies, over 2,7000,000 Americans served during this point of time, with approximately 58,000 being killed or reported missing in action.Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone, starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp.Chris Taylor (Sheen) leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes ( Berenger), who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias (Dafoe), who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.When pitched an inquiry regarding the nature of making films based on real-life experiences, Stone said it quite simply (and in so many words): that movies, regardless of their success, can be an ideal medium in which director’s can reevaluate their own pasts while preparing for the future.With it being common knowledge that Stone was in the Army during the Vietnam war, his accolades and ambitions in doing so have gone largely unaccounted for. Raised by a father (Louis) hell-bent on instilling a fear of the Soviet Union (Thanks to his own service during World War II), it should come as no surprise that once old enough to do so Stone may be led to follow in Louis’ footsteps.Having been actively enrolled in (and dropping out of) College his particular interest in seeing combat may at first seem counter-intuitive, but in summating his expectations the blueprint for ‘𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏’ practically begins to write itself:“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕; 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉…..𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, '𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.”Stone was discharged in November 1968 after the recipient of both a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and shortly started writing 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏’s screenplay to counteract depictions of war (Namely, John Wayne’s 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑩𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔 being referred to specifically) that had been previously released.Production efforts, however, were far from being in Stone’s favor.Written circa 1971 and not made until 1986, perhaps we should state the obvious: when initially proposed as a project to a number of production studios the amount of those interested was few and far between.The reasons why are as ironic as they come, with many potential investors expressing disapproval of 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏’s bleak tone in addition to its uncompromising realism. To make matters worse, production was further complicated by the refusal to be involved in any capacity by the United State’s Department of Defense (DOD) in what would seem like a reversal of roles in retrospect: Stone was asking for ammo in the form of military equipment he could be loaned, and the DOD basically told him to eat [expletive] and die.(Fun fact: This equipment would be loaned by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the ability to film in the Philippines was nearly threatened by a series of public demonstrations that took place during the EDSA Revolution)Constrained by a small budget, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏 was disadvantaged by the inaccessibility of special effects technology and easily manipulated lighting……but with a good enough cast such weaknesses can go intermittently unnoticed. Two weeks before shooting started all of the cast members had to endure an especially rigorous course meant to emulate the hardships of basic training, with trusted military advisor Dale Dye overseeing the entire operation. As a consequence of this, actors were burnt out and pushed beyond the limited of their usual ‘to-dos’, and this is reflected in the palpable bits of frustration and exhaustion captured in 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏’s overarching context.Viewers need not be worried about 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏’s potential to be shallow or just another notch in the belt that endorses nationalistic ideals. Enough is said naturally in the way that its characters are juxtaposed, with Dafoe and Berenger wavering gracefully between a representation of those that support war and those that are consumed by it.And sure. On one hand the background of certain characters is never revealed when it could be beneficial information to have, but 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏 is a conspicuous and affective piece of work because of what its characters say, what its characters do, and their own variety-riddled conclusions; moreover, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏 uses periods of uncomfortable silence to emphasize the indiscriminately savage nature of war, with Taylor’s ramblings suggestive of the internalized conflict that service members are expected to endure without question.Having absolutely no service experience myself, I can only speak from my lack thereof, I suppose.Struck early on by the introduction of Taylor, earliest impressions suggest an inability to move freely because of a heavy load he lugs around: both literally and symbolically.Chastised and encouraged to throw away items that are situationally unnecessary - items that may be reminiscent of innocence or a more comfortable time - this sudden abandonment of sentimental materials could be a metaphorical implication of what war ultimately necessitates: this being a renunciation of personality traits and little concern for the ramifications of warfare. At no point does ‘𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒏’ point its finger at the powers-that-be or at the entities responsible for committing to conflict, but it does ask for the reevaluation and reformation of a system so strongly dependent on irrefutable authority.Does it work? I guess I can’t say, but about one thing I am certain:People shouldn’t make beds they are unwilling to die in.

An Oliver Stone masterpiece.