Platoon: Oliver's Life During The Vietnam War

Platoon was released in 1986 by writer and director Oliver Stone. Oliver served 15 months in the Vietnam War, platoon is a fictional movie based on his experience during his duty. The film uses actual events that took place in the war but concentrates them within a single platoon. Oliver wrote platoon to create an accurate depiction of the Vietnam War, and he succeeded. The story follows Private Chris Taylor, a young man who volunteered for duty because he thought it was unfair how only the poor had to go to war, plus he said he wasn’t learning anything in college anyway.

The platoon Is divided up into two groups, each who are very different from each other. Each group is led by either Sergeant Barnes, or Sergeant Elias. Barnes is the leader

of the whole platoon, although is usually led by a young Lieutenant with less experience officially takes charge. Barnes is tough, takes a scarier look with his face covered in scars. He is determined to do absolutely anything to accomplish the Platoon’s mission. “There’s the way things ought to be and the way things are,” Elias on the other hand is dillusioned, experienced, effective and dedicated and he doesn’t believe in the war any more. He is a very moral man and unlike Barnes, will take control in what he is doing. He smokes marijuana to ease his pain and help with his inner struggles during the war. “Feeling good is good enough,” Each half of the platoon follows either sergeant. Barnes’ group play cards, listen to redneck music and drink beer. His group believes Barnes is the best chance of survival and will do anything to get through the war. Elias’ group smoke marijuana in a dark bunker with candles and lights called the underworld. They party, do drugs and listen to classic rock. It’s as if Barnes is like the devil, and Elias is like Christ, both fighting for Chris’ soul. During the movie Chris has fallen into both these groups such as the scene where he makes the Vietnamese civilian dance by shooting at his feet (Barnes). He backs away realizing what he has done, and then later on stops Tony and Bunny from raping a young woman (Elias). However throughout the war Chris finds out who he really Is and what he is capable of.

Most soldiers who went to the Vietnam War had never even tried drugs before. Drug use was large in Vietnam. Marijuana was grown all over the country and most soldiers were smoking it. They said it helped ease off the pain, relax, mellow out and escape from the reality of war. Most soldiers smoked it regularly and some even used Heroin, LSD and a few other drugs. It is shown in many scenes of the film where Elias’ group is smoking marijuana in the underworld. They all forget about the war and dance around and sing. They also sung “The tracks on my tears” by Smokey Robinson which was released in 1965. It created a very historic feel.

The movie is very realistic and gives you a good feel of time and place within the Vietnam War.

It is shown through many things such as Uniform. In the Vietnam War the U.S soldiers war Olive green coats, jungle trousers, jackets, fatigue shirts, combat boots, jungle boots, tropical hats, bandanas, boonies, caps, steel helmets, ponchos and much more. Their shirts had two chest pockets and buttons going down the middle. Most soldiers would roll their sleeves up or cut them off. This was all seen in nearly every scene in the movie. Elias wore a bandana, as did Chris, who also had his sleeves rolled up, Barnes had his cut off, they wore ponchos when it was raining in the river and they all wore steel helmets. The uniform was spot on to the Vietnam War and it helped with the Historical

context.

The guns used in the Platoon were also very accurate to the Vietnam War. US soldiers mostly used M16s, M16A1s and M14S. These were seen in most fighting scenes. Chris was using an M16 to fight off the Viet Cong in the ambush scene and Barnes also killed Elias with an M16. M60s were used in the war and were also seen in the jungle fight scene where Elias was later on killed. The equipment used in the movie was also very spot on to the war. Claymores were used in the ambush scene, and a quart canteen was seen when King was about to fill up his drink from the river. The guns and equipment looked like they were from the 60s and had no upgrades to them whatsoever, old rusted material. They helped to create a feel of historical tense and also made the film very accurate.

During the war a lot of the U.S soldiers were very immoral and inhumane.

They were brutal to the Vietnamese civilians. Some men raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, shot at random civilians, raided villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and ravaged the country side of south Vietnam. Some of this brutality was seen in the Village scene in Platoon. The platoon raided the village, gathered up all the Vietnamese civilians and interrogated them. Some were bashed, some were raped and some were tortured they shot a lot of them and burned down the village. This also reflects a very historical event in the Vietnam War; the My Lai massacre. The My Lai massacre was an event in the war where the U.S raided a My Lai village, raped their women, brutally murdered and tortured their civilians and burned down the village. The Sergeant tried to cover it up just like Barnes did, but it was witnessed by two helicopter pilots; who only just got rewarded a medal of heroism in

1998.

In my opinion the film is a very accurate depiction of the Vietnam War. It is good to watch for educational purposes or simply for interest in the movie. I’d recommend it for those purposes and even for entertainment purposes as it is a well written and entertaining movie. At the very end of the movie Chris is riding in a helicopter watching over his