Best film so far on the Vietnam War (Platoon (DVD))

Member Name: dancomp

Product:	Platoon (DVD)
Date:	06/09/06 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Searing performances by Dafoe and Berenger

Disadvantages: Special edition may be ignored in favour of the basic version - it should'nt be.

Platoon had a lasting, profound impact when it hit the cinemas way back in '86. It was not the first film to be set in Vietnam during the US's "Police action", but it was the first one to be based directly on the experiences of a grunt that had been there. Vietnam has always been a difficult subject for many Americans to relate to, a deeply unpopular war that culminated in a humiliating defeat at the hands of a 3rd world army and a strident wake up call to the myth of invincibility of the US armed forces. Before this movie, there was the jingoistic and laughable "The green berets" starring John Wayne, a self-proclaimed patriot who never served himself and on the other side of the fence was the somewhat dreamlike "Apocalypse Now" which while set in Vietnam was based upon the book "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, based in Africa.

Oliver Stone Stone served with the United States Army from April 1967 to November 1968 in Vietnam, not as a REMF (Rear-echelon MF) but rather on active service in what many vets refer to as the "Green Hell". Much like the central character in Platoon, Stone volunteered and was not drafted. His experiences there (wounded several times) made reintegration back into society difficult. He had seen "The green berets" and was furious, the reason why he put pen to paper and started to write the script for "Platoon", loosely based on what he had seen and done, but also many other soldiers he has served with. It was an uphill struggle, but the result was a multi-oscar winning film that achieved arguably everything that he had originally set out to do. Stone would go on to make pretentious turkeys such as "Natural born killers" and expand upon the Vietnam theme with two other films, "Born on the 4th of July" and "Heaven and Earth".

Platoon concerns the tour of duty suffered by a idealistic young man, Chris Taylor who volunteers for active service much to the amusement of the poor black and white trash drafted to fight and die for rich men that profit by the war whilst keeping their own progeny well clear of any danger. (The Alabama National Guard springs to mind) The film begins with the arrival of "new meat" disembarking from a Hercules and blinking in the harsh sunlight and drifting dust of an airbase underscored by the superb "adagio for strings". One of the first things the new guys see are a series of body bags being piled up to make the return journey, a sobering reminder that many of them would be leaving the same way. From there, we plunge straight into the jungle on patrol where the newbies are harrassed mercilliously by the vets all about them, themselves counting the days until their own tours are over and they can go home. As Chris relates "They say that if you're going to get it in the 'Nam, best to get killed in the first few weeks - theory being you don't suffer that much".

The Platoon that Pvt. Taylor is now a part of is commanded by the borderline psychotic Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a scarred, bitter man with no tolerance for screw-ups or dissent. Someone who places no limits on what he will do in order to get the job done, especially to civilians. An attitude made more frightening by the fact that he genuinely believes in what he's doing. The other senior non-com is his diametric opposite, Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe) who has been in-country for three tours, disillusioned by what is happening, the reasons as to why he enlists in never made clear and pretty much open to conjecture. The unit is split into two sections and each section reflects the squad leaders in question, even down to how they spend their time off-duty. Barnes' men posture, drink and gamble while talking with distain of the "hop-heads" across the compound, Elias's soldiers who spend their time getting high on drugs as a way to forget if just for a little while what tomorrow may bring.

The soldiers under Barnes' sway include the obsequious Sergeant O'Neil (John C McGinley), the unstable Pvt. Bunny (Kevin Dillon) and the religious Pvt. Rodriguez (Chris Castellejo). Those on Elias's side in the "Underworld" include the gravel-voiced Rhah (An excellent Francesco Quinn), Big Harold (Forrest Whittaker), Pvt. King (Keith David) and Pvt. Lerner (Johnny Depp). Other members of the Platoon seem to have no fixed alleigence such as Pvt. Junior Martin (Reggie Johnson) who has no intention of dying "for the white man" or Sgt. Warren (Tony Todd). The nominal leader of the platoon is the fresh faced Lt.Wolfe (Mark Moses) who is treated with good-natured contempt by Barnes who overrides him at almost every decision. On their first real patrol, Junior falls asleep on watch after being woken by Taylor and handed the claymore remote. The platoon is ambushed by NVA and the man who has the first line in the movie, Pvt. Gardner (Bob Orwig) is shot and killed. Junior denies being relieved and Taylor gets rousted by the senior members of the squad, especially Barnes who seems to suspect that Junior was lying, so warns both of them. Here's the conundrum around Barnes. He is a bigot, a murderer and a liar himself, yet he is also a strong leader, a good, experienced soldier and someone who tries not to get his men killed and as such, it is easy to see why he has his own supporters.

As time goes by, Taylor's letters home to his grandma change in tone up until the point where he stops writing entirely, confessing to King that "There does'nt seem much point anymore." After a few months he has woken up to the fact that the whole war is a horrible mess and one that might kill him. His admiration has switched from Barnes to Elias and that is in many ways the central theme of Platoon, the struggle for Chris's soul between the brutal yet pragmatic Barnes and the far more ethically-minded, philosophical Elias. To make matters worse, while on patrol they discover a tunnel complex. Elias goes down on his own with a pistol and a flashlight while they sweep the area. Several members of the team die in a booby-trap while a third is abducted only for his corpse to be found mutilated and tied to a stake by the Vietcong. Seething with rage, the Platoon decends on the nearby Vietnamese village seeking righteous justice. The fact that the villagers are frequently stuck in the middle between the VC and the US troops matters not at all. Murders and rapes begin to occur and Taylor quickly comes to his senses while Bunny is in his element. Barnes shoots the wife of the village headman and then puts a pistol to the head of his eight-year old daughter demanding he admit to being VC. Just before the scene can deteriorate into a Muy Lai, Elias arrives, aghast by what he sees. Barnes warns him to stay out of it and Elias launches himself bodily at him. The two roll on the ground, punching and gouging while being cheered on by their supporters. They are finally seperated as Wolfe recieves orders to torch the village. Taylor rescue a pubescent child from being gang raped by his comrades while they spit on him.

Barnes swears revenge while Elias tries to go to the company commander Cap. Harris (Dale Dye - another real life 'Nam veteran) to get Barnes removed before he kills more civilians. Many of Barnes' lackeys line up behind him to help deny the charges while muttering of the need to frag Elias. However, going by the look upon Barnes' face, he has something more personal and less visable in mind. Meanwhile, intel points to the movement of an entire NVA (North Vietnamese Army) division in the hills and valleys dangerously close to the fire base. The Platoon has to return to the area to conduct several probes to determine whether there is any truth in this. There is. I will stop here in order to avoid putting in too much in the way of spoliers.

Platoon, as I wrote at the beginning of the interview, had a profound impact on its release. Vietnam veterans, generally despised by the public as unwelcome reminders of an uncomfortable memory saw a softening of the attitudes towards them. The fact that not only was the US armed forces not invincible, but also capable (and guilty) of atrocities that were ignored or dismissed was something that would have been unheard of in a domestically produced film even a decade earlier. Platoon paved the way for the filming of "Hamburger Hill" and "Full Metal Jacket" and no doubt helped rise the circulation of autobiographical books on 'Nam, such as the excellent "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason. But above all of these factors, Platoon is simply a superb film with great acting that is quite simply a "must see", particularly in wide screen with dolby surround sound.

So is this "Special edition" worth getting at all, or is it yet another callous attempt by the distributor to estort more money frrom the public? I am happy to report that this version is well worth buying if all you have is the orginal "bare-bones" edition. There are about an extra 6 minutes worth of scenes added, and whilst they offer nothing crucial or central to the plot, they are in my opinion well worth the inclusion. You can find the normal commentaries and TV spots, but the only extra apart from the extra scenes that I found worth watching was the 50-minute documentary "Tour of the Inferno". Many members of the cast get a chance to speak of their experiences, such as when Dafoe talks about flying onsite early to get into character, going to sleep and waking up to watch tanks rumbling by beneath his balcony as the coup against the president began in the Phillipines where the film was shot. Depp (possibly the coolest man on the entire planet) tells of having to reshoot his "death" scene again and again and again lying face up in heavy rain while Stone shouted "Bullsh@t! - Do it again!!" until he got the performance he wanted. McGinley refers to how scared and tired and depressed he got during the pre-production military training they were given, much harder than anyone had expected - up to and including digging foxholes, setting tripwires and night watches. Dyer who trained them, laughs micheviously as he recalls giving the cast firm instructions to only use semi-automatic fire with their weapons (blanks naturally) and then sending a troop of goats through their tripwires at about 2 o'clock in the morning. Said cast went through entire clips in seconds. There are also more sobering accounts, including live footage of the war.

The special edition can be picked up still, usually second hand for as little as £4 plus delivery from an Amazon partner. It seems to no longer be produced as "The Ultimate Edition" is now out, containing virtually nothing extra useful, but definately making the "callous attempt" category referred to earlier.

Summary: Best film so far on the Vietnam War