Platoon
The first casualty of war is innocence.
CAST
Chris Taylor: Charlie
Sheen
Sgt. Barnes: Tom
Berenger
Sgt. Elias:
Willem Dafoe
Supporting Roles: Johnny Depp, Kevin Dillon,
John McGinley, and Forrest Whitaker
How
could anyone dislike this movie?
Vietnam was one of the darkest times of American history, and once
American troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, Americans closed their eyes and
prayed that they could forget about that disaster. However, Stone fought in Vietnam and would serve his fallen
comrades justice when he reminded America that the 56,000 people who died in
Vietnam were fighting for their country in Platoon.
The film began with 
Chris
Taylor (Charlie Sheen) walking off a plane and setting foot in Hell (a.k.a.
Vietnam). Immediately, Taylor realized
that he was much different from the rest of his platoon: he came from a rich
family, he was out of shape, and, his biggest difference, he volunteered. It was not long until he had already been
shot in the neck. Luckily, it was a
small wound, and, upon return to his platoon, Chris finally began to behave
like and appreciate the rest of the “grunts.”
He became friends with Sgt. Elias’ (Willem Dafoe) and his squad, and
everything finally fell into place.
Unfortunately,
war is no picnic, and, in the next scene, three soldiers were killed while on
patrol, which prompts Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) to search for Viet Cong in a
nearby village. Once there, Barnes
searched for the Viet Cong among the villagers, and, once he could not find any,
began to get paranoid. He arrived at
the conclusion that some the villagers probably either fought for or aided the
Viet Cong. In an attempt to force a
confession out of a villager, Barnes shot the villager’s wife and held a ’45 to
his daughter’s head. 
Luckily, Sgt. Elias’ showed up and fought Barnes,
preventing him from doing any more damage.
But Barnes, who was thought to be invincible, since he had been wounded
so many times, would make sure his platoon would follow his lead, one way or
another.
This movie
provides it all: great battle scenes, great acting by 
Berenger, Dafoe (who each earned Oscar nominations),
and Sheen, and an impressive plot. This
movie was written and directed by Stone and was based on his actual wartime
experiences. Also, this movie changed a
great writer into what would become one of the greatest directors ever.
Stone raises an interesting question with this movie: was America really fighting the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War? In America, our protestors fought our government, causing a lack of support for the war. Perhaps regular, unmotivated, and, for the most part, unskilled troops had no business traveling 10,000 miles to fight a superior enemy in such an irregular terrain. Regardless, these troops fought when they could have ran, and died for things they did not necessarily believe, which makes them heroes. Thanks to Stone, these heroes will be remembered.
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