War means a lot of things to a lot of people. To some it means unnecessary death. To others it is the ultimate in patriotism. Most fall somewhere in the middle, with viewpoints that angle in one direction or another. Traditionally, war films during the studio era were, right through the 1970s, tilted much more towards overt patriotism. This was no surprise, really, since America had never lost a major war to that point. Coming off of an amazing victory in World War II over quite possibly the most easily demonized villains in written history, America was seemingly invincible. We were an unstoppable force. Nothing could stand in our way.

Nothing save for half a tiny little country split over two vastly different ideals. A country whose army was made up almost entirely of civilians. Civilians with little military training and weaponry nowhere near the level of that boasted by the United States.

Yeah. They stopped us. The most powerful country in the world couldn’t halt the invasion of North Vietnam – an army less than half our size.

It changed everything. The playing field changed. The military were no longer heroes. Popular opinion shifted. War protesting was at an all time high (the protesters of the current Iraq war have nothing on Vietnam) and it only got worse the longer the conflict went on. Then came the draft. Millions of American men were sent off completely green. They came back changed men to a home country with little respect for all that they fought for.

Platoon wasn’t about that, though. It wasn’t about the political climate of the homeland. It wasn’t about the North Vietnamese and their guerrilla warfare tactics. It wasn’t about strategy and triumph. It was about soldiers. The feelings they felt, the fears they had, the camaraderie between them, and how war changed them.

In other words, it isn’t a typical war movie at all.

The narrative force of Platoon starts when new recruit Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) enlists in Vietnam and, as requested, joins up with the infantry. The platoon he is assigned to is entirely made up of drafted soldiers completely unconcerned with their new addition. He soon learns that new recruits aren’t valued, as they lack the experience necessary to survive and, as such, are seen as expendable and unreliable. It doesn’t take Private “Cheese-Dick” Taylor very long at all to realize that enlisting in the infantry was probably just as dumb a thing to do as his comrades told him it was.

But as time goes on, he and the rest of his unit start becoming closer. First he is befriended by Sergeant Elias Grodin (Willem Dafoe). Elias is very sensitive, yet extremely war torn. He is one of the people that turn Taylor on to marijuana for the first time. He also becomes something of a guidance figure to Taylor. Likewise, Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger) is physically scarred from the war. He uses hate to garner the strength for survival. Both of these characters are important to Taylor. The violent and passive Sergeants march to their own beats. Either might have been a great leader on their own, but in the same platoon ... they were a horrible mix.

Those two clash forces over time and end up splitting the camp, with some soldiers favoring one over the other. Not surprisingly, these soldiers' lifestyles emulate those of their favorite sergeant. Elias’ camp are the potheads of the group. They consist of Rhah (Francesco Quinn), Harold (Forest Whitaker), and King (Keith David), the thinkers of the platoon. They are against the war and, more importantly, the inhumanities of it all. Barnes’ camp isn’t really focused on as much since Taylor isn’t a part of it, but its most notorious member is Bunny (Kevin Dillon), who absolutely revels in the violence of war. He loves every moment of it and even has the audacity to compare himself to Audie Murphy.

Probably the most unsettling and most remembered scene in the film is the raid on a Vietnamese village, where they find Czechoslovakian weapons being stashed. It is the “no turning back” moment for these characters. Taylor loses it, taking his aggressions out on an unarmed one-legged Vietnamese child making him dance as he shoots the ground beneath his feet, and a legendary cinematic moment was born. As Taylor pulls himself back together, Bunny takes over with glee. Soon after that, Barnes officially snaps at hearing a Vietnamese woman’s screams and murders her in cold blood. He then threatens to murder her child. In any film, I can’t think of a single more difficult scene to watch - and most of the violence is handled off-screen. What adds to this scene is that it is never revealed if these people were VC (Viet Cong) or simply farmers trying to make a living, totally unaware of what was going on around them. The viewer is lost in the same wave of confusion that the platoon feels, and no one has any idea how to continue on after that.

That is where the most delicate art of Platoon exists. It never delves too much into the trivialities of the Vietnam War itself, and that is probably the strongest thing to be said about it. At the same time, it never understates the uncertainty of the war, nor does it take away from its horrors. The film as a whole is less about war than it is about people. It’s an ensemble film, where every single one of the actors is an integral part of that whole – much like a true platoon would be – regardless of how long any particular character remains on screen. It shows soldiers as the kids they were and shows how war can take people down different paths. But no matter the path, you can be goddamn sure it is going to take you somewhere. The films' tagline was, “The first casualty of war is innocence.”

You would be hard pressed to find a more apropos tagline in cinema history.

Platoon wasn’t Oliver Stone’s first feature film, but it certainly was his best received at the time. It must have been an invigorating feeling for him. Stone was himself a Vietnam vet, and he wrote this story based on his own personal experiences. Private Taylor was based on Stone himself. When you put that much of yourself in a film - writing, directing, and essentially starring in a mostly autobiographical film - you can only hope to do it right. All of that experience, though, resulted in a very rewarding and realistic film.

Every part of Platoon is amazing. From the dramatically draining musical score to the fantastic lighting effects, the amount of detail that was put into the production – a production that practically turned the Philippines into Vietnam - is awe-inspiring considering the amount of labor it must have entailed. The actors (every last one, and before it became trendy to do so) were sent through a boot camp and forced to live in the bush for two weeks on their own. No agents. No waiters. No civilian contact. Just getting into character. They were extensively trained so that their very movements were authentic. All of this shows up in the final product, and it makes for such an engrossing experience that you forget you are watching a film. You are right there with the platoon. You’re a member of it. Everything that happens to them happens to you. You grow to love your mates and, like people who have actually gone through shit together, you will never forget any of them.

This is Platoon.

Presentation
This being the fourth time Platoon has been released on DVD, the video doesn’t look much better than it did on the already excellent MGM Special Edition. This is saying something, too, because with the exception of perhaps the Artisan release, all of the DVDs have looked pretty good. And I’ve owned every single one. The film is thankfully presented in anamorphic widescreen. Platoon’s dark blue/black cinematography is perfectly captured and with the rare exception of some film grain, I can’t find anything to complain about. In fact, even the grain is kept to a bare minimum.

The audio is no slouch either. It’s big. At times you will feel like you are deep in the jungles of Vietnam, hiding in the fox-holes. It’s realistic, and only serves to amplify the greatness of the film. You get full surround with both the English DD 5.1 track and DTS 5.1. You’ll also find French 2.0 and Spanish 2.0. Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish.

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