Platoon

Platoon

Director: Oliver Stone

Year: 1986

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger

     Oliver Stone has had a very successful career, directing some of the most well-known and critically praised films over the last 2 and a half decades. Platoon would be the beginning of this era. It's actually a very personal film for Stone because the film is partly based on his own experiences in Vietnam, having been a veteran of the war himself. 

     Charlie Sheen steps into Oliver Stone's shoes as the character based on the director. Sheen gives a surprisingly good performance. He plays an inexperienced soldier who is doing his first tour of Vietnam. Appropriately, he's shocked, surprised, upset, and so on. He's got a bunch of mixed emotions about the actual conflict, and it's what makes him the most identifiable character in the film (Imagine that, Charlie Sheen playing a character YOU can identify with).

     Joining the cast is veteran bad ass Tom Berenger as Sgt. Bob Barnes, a gun-ho NCO with a knack for combat. His tough exterior, his experience in the field, and his facial scars make him an intimidating force to be reckoned with. He never lets up the entire film, and surprisingly, being the one character you'd think would make it, he doesn't survive until the end. What makes this performance stand out, is Berenger is playing a hardened soldier with a sense of emotional depth. You really feel like there's a reason for the way he is, and the way Berenger plays it, although he never shows any ounce of vulnerability, you know it's there. 

     Willem Dafoe gives an equally-praised performance as Sgt. Elias. Dafoe's character is at odds with Berenger's, and the two finally having a confrontation a little more than halfway through the film. Barnes shoots Elias, and tells the others he was killed by enemy infantry. It's after this scene that Elias emerges from the jungle, and as he's actually shot by the enemy, he raises his hands  as if he's shouting "WHY!", creating the most iconic image from the film. Dafoe's Elias is a direct polar opposite to Berenger's Barnes. Elias becomes Sheen's mentor and friend, while Barnes does nothing but harass and taunt the same character. It's an interesting look at two different views, effectively pulled off  by both the actors. Both Dafoe and Berenger were nominated for Academy Awards for their portrayals, but neither won. It's a rare feat when two actors from the same film are nominated for the same award, and it was deserved here. 

     The film is one of the Oliver Stone's best, and I would consider it one of the finest Vietnam war films ever made. It doesn't glamorize anything about the conflict, and it gives off a slight anti-war message, but it's effective. Apparently Stone wanted to make the film as a direct counter to John Wayne's The Green Berets, which he felt did nothing but showcase the glamour of conflict (and John Wayne of course). Watch out for Johnny Depp in an early role as Lerner, Forrest Whitaker as Big Harold, and Keith David as King in what is easily one of the best films from 1986.