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Vietnam war movie essay
Vietnam war movie analysis
Vietnam War in American Culture
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Platoon is a story of a soldier’s perspective of the Vietnam War. The movie is for the most part told out of the eyes of members of one platoon of the 25th Infantry Division. It is a movie dedicated to all of the people who fought in the Vietnam War.
In the movie, Chris Taylor is a young man from a wealthy family, but while in college, chooses to help his country and do his duty in the Vietnam War. He is sent to Vietnam gets put in the 25th Infantry Division. Chris first has some rough times while over there. He gets bitten by ants while traveling through the jungle, and gets blamed for falling asleep while he was on watch. The North Vietnamese tried and were unsuccessful at ambushing them. However, it was not Chris’s fault (It was a soldier named Junior who fell asleep). Chris starts to miss home after some of these events happen. After being put on light duty, he gets mixed up in what some of the other soldiers were doing to deal with their depression - drugs and alcohol. He also meets some nice people such as King and Big Harold in the process.
The Platoon soon sets out again, patrolling the jungle. They discover a Vietnamese bunker complex and soon after discover something else: Manny, one of their soldiers is missing. The soldiers go through all of the fortified area, and two of them set off a mine. Lieutenant Wolfe then gets word to move his men to a nearby village, which was thought to have Vietnamese soldiers in hiding. On their way, they discover Manny dead, tied t...
Day 9: Conflict - He is on a military mission in the Arizona desert to find a Japanese secret base, or to see if it was there at all. On the way the days were hot, and lots of them emptied their canteens on the first day. All of the Navajos in the squad secretly picked a cactus removed the spikes, and sucked all the juice out. Mostly all of the other marines are out of water and it was at the point where they could die if they don't get water soon. They walked and walked where they thought the base would be, but it wasn't.
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, is an exceptional autobiography on a man's first-hand experiences during the Vietnam War. Philip Caputo is a Lieutenant during the Vietnam War and illustrates the harsh reality of what war really is. Caputo's in-depth details of his experience during the war are enough to make one cringe, and the eventual mental despair often experienced by soldiers (including Caputo) really makes you feel for participants taking part in this dreadful war atmosphere. Giving way to the parties and the common fun associated with college kids, Caputo failed out of college and realized what he really wanted to be was a Marine. He joined the Marines and went through a lot of officer training until he eventually reached what would be known as his final rank of Lieutenant. Introduced to the Vietnam War in 1965 as a Platoon leader, Caputo walked into the war a little scared but with a lot of determination. Caputo started the war with a lot of field work including jungle expeditions and shooting escapades, and eventually was sent to keep track of the everyday deaths occurring during the war and all the paperwork associated with such a job. Later he was put back in charge of a platoon which eventually lead to his downfall following an unethical order he gave his men that resulted in the killing of a couple Vietnamese pedestrians believed to be part of the Viet Cong. Caputo was acquitted of all charges and was given a letter of reprimand from the general. About ten years later he continued his Marine endeavors as he reported to Vietnam and witnessed the surrender of the Saigon Government to the Communist North Vietnamese. Caputo's war experience was plagued by...
As the war progresses, Caputo requests to go to a line company in the middle of November. This is a change from the “office” position he currently held where he was largely responsible for counting casualties. At this point, the romanticized visions Caputo had of war have been completely shattered and he goes into this transfer being fully aware of this. This change in viewpoint becomes even more clear when compared to the beginning of the novel where Caputo was intrigued by the romance and action of war. While readers would expect more action and typical war stories in this section of the book, Philip Caputo writes anything but. Caputo writes, “It went like that for the rest of the month. It was a time of little action and endless misery…Almost every hour of every night, the radio operators chanted, ‘All secure. Situation remains the same’ (1996: 240). Caputo repeats the phrase “All secure. Situation remains the same” five times throughout this single paragraph. Because of this, readers see the dull and mundane side of war that is often not talked about. In addition, Caputo continues to comment of the large amounts of waiting throughout the autobiography. When most think of the Vietnam War, they picture the “main events”. Similar to the numerous documentaries we watched in class, some of the main points of the war include: The first Indochina War, The Gulf of Tonkin, and the Tet Offensive. These documentaries all focused on these monumental events and because of this, the public perceives this war as the sum of these events. However, what many fail to consider the large gaps in time between these events. It is in these large gaps that little action occurred and most of the soldier’s time was spent waiting as Caputo depicted in this scene. In connection with
The book Outlaw Platoon written by Sean Parnell is a soldiers’ tale of his platoon in one of the most dangerous places on earth. This book is a non-fiction riveting work that tells the story of a platoon that spent sixteen months on an operating base in the Bermel Valley, the border of Pakistan. This mission the men were sent on was part of a mission called Operation Enduring Freedom. This book is extremely relevant to the war that we are still fighting in Afghanistan and the humanitarian work that continues. We still have men in this area fighting and losing their lives everyday. It is the focus of ongoing political debates and the purpose of our involvement there is an ongoing question in the minds of many Americans. In writing this book, Parnell makes it clear in his author’s notes that he indeed was not trying to pursue one political agenda over another. His goal as not to speak of all members of the platoon and expose their identities and the types of soldiers they were but instead to showcase some of the men’s bravery and abilities during the war. Parnell believed that he owed it to the men to write something that would show the world what these men go through during combat in an honest and raw account. Another purpose of Parnell’s in writing this book is an attempt at making sure these men are given a place in American war history.
After reading this very dramatic book I expected a dramatic ending with, maybe, the death of one his close friends that only had a couple days left in Vietnam just like him. I was a little disappointed, but I guess it got its job done. It wrapped up the book very nice; it just wasn't as exciting as the rest of the book. If you are interested in war books that can sometimes get a little graphic I would definitely recommend this book to you. It is a really easy book to get lost in the reading; he describes everything in great detail and makes it really easy to picture what is going on in your head. If you read his book you too will find out about Tim O'Brien's struggles in boot camp and also as a foot soldier in Vietnam.
Band of Brothers is a fascinating book that captures moments lived by soldiers during World War II. It specifically relates to the History of a small unit of paratroopers known as Easy Company, 506 Regiment, 101st Airborne. It is a story that follows the company from its inception to the capture of Hitler’s nest. It begins with the training of these soldiers at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. The 140 members of easy company who were young men from different social levels were physically and mentally trained. This particular company had an extremely harsh training, but many believe it is because of this training that they were considered as one of the best rifle companies in the army.
"War is hell . . . war is mystery terror and adventure and courage and discovery and despair and . . . war is nasty (80)." When it all happened it was not like "a movie you aren't a hero and all you can do is whimper and wait (211)." O'Brien and the rest of the solders were just ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations. They needed to tell blatant lies" to "bring the body and soul back together (239)." They needed to eliminate the reality of death. As ordinary people they were not capable of dealing with the engulfing realities of death and war therefore they needed to create coping skills. O'Brien approaches the loss of his childhood friend, Linda, in the same way he approaches the loss of his comrades in the war as this is the only way he knows how to deal with death. A skill he learned, and needed, in the Vietnam War.
people killed in combat, and the feelings and thoughts of the opposing Vietnamese soldiers. After almost being killed Perry realizes what Peewee said was right.
The narrator, Le Ly Hayslip was born into a family of six in a town called Ka Ly in Vietnam. The villagers of Ka Ly fight for both side of the war; Hayslip’s own brothers were split between the communist north and the puppet government controlled south and so were her family. By day the village was looked over by Republicans, but by night they were under...
Captain Miller and his squad of eight World War II soldiers are assigned the seemingly impossible combat mission to locate and return one American soldier, Private James Francis Ryan, all of whose brothers have already been killed in action. He is trapped somewhere behind enemy lines. In order the save the family name and relieve an already grieving mother, Captain Miller is instructed to find Private Ryan and bring him home.
...ated. There is no aspect of "Gods Work" in Platoon, as there in in Saving Private Ryan. Both movies present Christian metaphors, but both movies handle it in different ways.
Platoon is Oliver Stone’s first film portrayal of Vietnam. The film starts off with main character Chris Taylor (portrayed by Charlie Sheen) arriving in Vietnam. A very important element about the character Chris Taylor is that he is a college student that dropped out by choice to join the war effort. This element helps contrast Taylor with supporting characters as most of them are people who were drafted and came to Vietnam against their will. “Mr. Stone, himself a Vietnam vet, observes the war through the short focus of a single infantry platoon, fighting somewhere near the Cambodian border in 1967.”(Vincent, “The Vietnam War in Stone’s ‘Platoon’”) Charlie Sheen’s character narrates the journey and struggles of the Platoon through notes to his Grandmother. “To all intents and purposes, Chris was Oliver Stone. ‘He was a stand-in. Alter-ego’ Stone would write similar letters to his grand-mother, telling her of ‘my wishes, my desires’.” (Salewicz 21) The choice in narration tells the audience that Taylor may have a closer relationship with his grandmother than his actual parents. There...
The director of the movie Lone Survivor has shown the viewers of the movie about war. The viewers are able to have an image on how is the situation like during an on going war. Besides that, the viewers were also able to see the hardships and tough trainings gone through by soldiers in order to carry out their mission and complete it. Despite all the life risking battles, the soldiers had determination in going through it all together as a body of soldiers. The director was also able to touch the viewer’s by the love and care shown in the soldiers that were was willing to take the bullet for their soldier mates. This shows how good relationships are important for soldiers in the army during a war. This movie suits the theme of ‘brotherhood’ very well as the relationship formed between the soldiers were close and they each treat one another like they were real
Even though through the majority of Platoon it 's confined to a small group of individuals through the depiction of the setting around them and the subtle hints revealed through the dialogue between the characters causes it to recreate the varied attitudes on the war, several historical events impacting the war, and the overall Zeitgeist of the Vietnam War. The spirit of an era can only be adequately addressed by accurately illustrating the social structure, dress, architecture, language, psychology, and family relations of the era if it doesn’t the historical authenticity of film is diluted.
While Lev and his friends are up guarding the roof of their apartment, they notice a body of a German solider falling from the sky who is attached to a parachute. Not knowing whether the man is dead or not, abandoning their posts to investigate. Lev and his friends run to where they assume the body has landed. They find the German soldiers dead body and they helped themselves