Platoon Film Analysis

Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning film "Platoon" brought the true horror of the Vietnam War to the big screen. Based on Stone's own experiences as a soldier in the conflict, the film captivated millions of viewers all over the world. "Platoon" tells the story of Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) who leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Taylor faces a moral crisis and not to mention, imenint danger. The movie expresses many themes and ideals concerning war: cruelty, selfishness, hate, but also, brotherhood, bravery, courage, sympathy and others. Platoon portrays Americans as antagonists rather than the classic heroes; which in turn prevented it from being released by big name movie companies in the U.S.

One main

question whose answer can be inferred from the film is, "How does war strip away and diminish a person's humanity?" At the beginning of the film, the men in the platoon stationed off the Cambodian border had their differences but ultimately were willing to defend and fight beside one another in war. Throughout the course of the film, the men change, their morals poisoned by violence and fear. The platoon splits into two sides in a conflict, half siding with the hardened and cynical Staff Sergeant Robert "Bob" Barnes, and the remaining with the more idealistic Sergeant Elias. Next, the once sane and reasonable men turn to means of extreme violence while interrogating the chief of a Vietnamese village about whether the villagers have been aiding the NVA,(North Vietnamese Army; aka Vietnam People's Army) and cold-bloodedly shoots his wife dead when she snaps back at him. Taylor later prevents a gang-rape of two girls by some of Barnes' men. Near the end of the film, after multiple altercations between the two; Sergreant Elias goes off near a river to prevent the soldiers from being completely surrounded. Barnes who begins finding the soldiers and tells them to fall back, finds Elias alone and shoots him, then returns and tells the others that Elias was killed by the enemy. While the platoon is extracted via helicopter, Elias can be seen below, mortally wounded, emerging from the treeline and being chased by a group of North Vietnamese soldiers, who kill him.
The first sign the mens' humanity was tarnished by war was that after living and fighting together, they lost sight of their true enemies and rather began fighting each other, divided and under separate leaders.

The main altercation that leads to this is the fight that broke out between Sgt. Elias and Sgt. Barnes when Barnes,while questioning the village chief, loses his patience and senselessly kills the man's wife despite his denials that they are aiding the Viet Cong. He is about to murder the man's young daughter to force him to tell them to where the enemy is when Elias intervenes and attacks him out of anger and disgust at the ruthless killing. From this point on, the two butt heads and have resentments toward each other. The soldiers take their sides and there was "a civil war in the platoon. Half with Elias, half with Barnes." (Taylor) Each side focuses mainly on themselves rather than the task and common enemy at hand. Men who once laughed and smoked and drank together now were willing to sacrifice one another, their brotherhood shattered by the

conflict.
There are many violent scenes in the film, granted the topic it covers. But, two scenes stick out most for their heinous cruelty. Acts committed by once normal, loving men against human beings with skin no different than their own. After Elias and Barnes' major conflict, Lieutenant Wolfe, who ended the fight, relays orders from his own superior officer to burn the village. As the men leave, a group of four soldiers, drag a young Vietnamese girl into the bushes with the intention of raping her. Taylor comes upon them and stops the group from raping the girl. They ridicule him for stopping them. The men were willing to traumatize a girl and violate her beyond reason just because they could. They didn't even see her as a human being, just an object with which they could do whatever their hearts desired. Taylor himself was appalled by their intentions while the men laughed it off as no big deal, as if Taylor was overreacting.
One of the final scenes in the movie portrays the most inhuman act of all. As the North Vietnamese soldiers ambush and begin taking out the platoon soldiers one by one, Sgt. Elias takes a few of his men to intercept troops. Elias, realizing they will be cut off at the river, goes alone to combat these troops and give his men a chance. Barnes orders the rest of the platoon to retreat, to be airlifted from the area, and goes back into the jungle to find Elias' group. After sending his men back, Barnes finds Elias. The two stare at each other for a few moments and then Barnes fires three rounds into Elias' chest and leaves him for dead. Barnes runs into Taylor and tells him that Elias is dead and that he'd seen his body nearby. Barnes, shot his fellow man in cold blood for no other reason than that he still had resentments towards him for insulting his authority and capability to lead a group of soldiers as a sergeant. Perhaps, before all of this happened, Barnes might have been willing to aid his brother of war. But now, he simply couldnt overlook their differences. He had the chance to save him, to bring him along to be evcuated but he shot him without even giving it a second thought.
One question brought to mind after watching Platoon is, "How does war strip away and diminish a person's humanity?" It is evident now that there are many things that can do this to a person, killing someone or something, severe emotional or physical trauma and extreme resentments to name a few.

These three triggers were clearly evident throughout the movie, more throughout the second half. No one, not even Taylor remained completely unchanged by the war. A scene where he taunts and shoots at a mentally dissabled villager proves this. The men of the platoon were once reasonable people who were only trying to make it through their 365 days. But the violent acts they had to comit and the extreme fear and trauma they were put through caused them to do unspeakable things. They butted heads with one another and bickered rather than working together to take out the Vietnamese troops. Sergeant Barnes shot a woman in cold blood and almost did the same to an innocent girl. Four of the men, some Barnes' and some Elias' tried to rape an innocent and scared girl. And Sergeant Barnes, even after months if not years of fighting alongside Sergeant Elias, shot him and left him to

die.