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Platoon
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by Live / Artisan
Sales Rank: 25341
Price: $9.98
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<i>Platoon</i> put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men (this was a few years before he played Jesus in Martin Scorsese's <i>The Last Temptation of Christ</i>), and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side. The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice--pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a you-are-there quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. <i>Platoon</i> won Oscars for best picture and director. <i>--Jim Emerson</i>
Viewer Reviews
I've read a couple of reviews that downgraded this film as being unrealistic. Of, course only the most sensational aspects of the war are portrayed. Duh, it's a movie. I wasn't over there. The war mercifully ended weeks before I would have been. I do have numerous friends who were. Many will not really talk about it (just like my dad who served 4 years in WWII and saw heavy action. Only after his death have I realized how scarred he was by that experience). I know a guy who used to tell me horror stories similar to those portrayed in this movie. 10 years ago he would tell these stories like jokes and laugh like crazy. I would think "That is one hardcore SOB!" Nowadays he can't talk about Vietnam without breaking down and sobbing and crying. I can see now that he has been living in hell for 30+ years. Maybe this film is unrealistic in the fact that this wasn't the average soldier's experience. I think about 50,000 or so just got killed. This crap did happen though.
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Platoon
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