UNFORGETTABLE TALES FROM THE PAST : "PLATOON"

Now, as you know, I am on a mission to watch as many of the big classic movies as fast as possible. I am, generally speaking, quite “hungry” for movies, planning ahead what I will watch the next day, constantly failing to decide… But boy oh boy did I drag my feet when it came to watching Platoon… I had never watched it before like so many of the greats but I just knew it was going to hit me like a freight train… There is, however, no earthly point in putting off the inevitable so I went for it this morning. It did not disappoint in more ways than one : It was a brilliant movie AND it hit me like a freight train…
The year is 1968 and Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a college student. Or rather he was a college student. He “wasn’t learning anything” so he actually dropped out of college and volunteered to go and fight in Vietnam. He arrives at the base camp, as green as you please and stuffed to the gills with ideals. He is full of hope and thinks that by fighting the war and doing his bit he will become a man. The constant danger, sleepless nights filled with violence and the in-fighting in his own platoon split down the middle by two rival commanders will definitely make a man of him… The question is, however, what kind of man he will end up becoming…
One of the main reasons I gave this film a wide birth was the fact that I assumed, being a war film, that it would be all blood guts and gore. First of all, let me reassure you, it isn’t. I mean, it’s the Vietnam War for Christ’s sake, naturally there is blood and guts but they do not take such prominence on the screen. What the film is mainly interested in, and what is profoundly more frightening than any amount of blood and guts, is the changes that take place in the minds and spirits of the men themselves, from the foot soldiers right up the chain the lieutenant. The film questions mankind’s seemingly endless capacity to harm one another and be cruel, and violent. It also wonders whether or not this potential is actually latent within all of us… You may point out – and rightly too – that there have been a LOT of films who have tried to capture this change in their heroes and heroines and point out the cruelty and pointlessness of war. You would, however, be hard put to find a film that captures this waste of human life, be it the fallen on the battlefield or the survivors, so deeply scarred that they can never be the same again, so well. It may have something to do with the fact that it is partly based on director Oliver Stone’s actual experiences as well… Partly, it is the outstanding cast of the film, starring veterans such as Tom Berenger, Willem Defoe and Forrest Whitaker (and as a bonus a VERY young Johnny Depp!) In any case there is definitely a reason for this film to be awarded all the Oscars® and awards it got. In view of what is going on in the world these days, I am also rather sorry to add that the sentiment it portrays is still very, VERY relevant today. Watch it. It will give you a lot to think about. Oh, and have some tissues handy, unless you are actually made of stone you will be needing them…