Death? What do you all know about death?

More than a decade before Saving Private Ryan, Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986) quickly became the new benchmark for how to depict gruesome 20th-century combat, with the viscera amped up higher than most earlier war films dared. Marking a 40th anniversary later this year, Platoon serves as a raw, semi-autobiographical reflection of Stone's own experiences as an infantryman in the Vietnam War.

The narrative centers on Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), a young, idealistic college dropout who volunteers for combat duty and is assigned to a U.S. Army infantry platoon near the Cambodian border. Once there, his innocence is quickly shattered as he finds himself caught in a grueling, dual conflict: surviving the terrifying realities of guerrilla warfare, and navigating a bitter psychological civil war within his own unit. This internal divide is spearheaded by two contrasting leaders who vie for the moral soul of the platoon – the scarred, ruthlessly pragmatic Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the compassionate, disillusioned Sergeant Elias Grodin (Willem Dafoe).

To listen to a recording of our CineVerse group discussion of Platoon, conducted last week, click here.

Platoon was different from many previous war movies. It stands as the first serious attempt to depict the realities of true combat and real war life in Vietnam from the grunt’s point of view, breaking away from the templates previously set by films like The Green Berets (1968), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Apocalypse Now (1979). The film doesn't attempt to glorify war, make it appealing, or recreate battles for entertainment value; instead, it intends to disorient, frighten, disturb, and raise questions. To achieve this, the pacing and spatial setups are intentionally ambiguous and disorienting. Both the characters and the audience are never quite sure where they are or where they are going, creating a vibe where anything can happen at any time and leaving a profound feeling of impending doom and dread. Furthermore, while the film serves as a morality play of sorts, it doesn’t preach or proselytize politically about whether or not the United States should have been in Vietnam, choosing to completely omit the politicians in Washington and the anti-war demonstrators. This grounded perspective is heightened by true night-for-night shooting using minimal lighting, relying in many cases on actual flares to illuminate the subject, which lends an incredible verisimilitude and realism to the story. Ultimately, because we know the narrative is loosely based on Stone’s own experiences, the film carries a deeply authentic feel.

In Platoon, there is also a battle going on that has nothing to do with the United States versus the Viet Cong. This conflict is really a battle for Chris’ soul, centering on whether he will follow in the footsteps of Elias or Barnes. In fact, Chris explicitly notes that he felt like the child of these two fathers. Barnes represents the established military order, functioning more as a machine than a man. He is a remorseless killing machine with all the stereotypical trappings of a macho, emotionless hero – defined by his scar, his muscles, his cold eyes, his ruthlessness, and his total lack of mercy – while also representing the devil inside each of us. Elias embodies the opposite paradigm. He’s more social, friendly, and compassionate, yet also deviant and willing to break from the established social order through acts like smoking marijuana or rushing off on dangerous solo missions. He serves as a feminine counterpoint to Barnes’ overt masculinity, highlighted by Elias’ romanticizing of the stars and the subtle homoerotic undertones in the tent scene. In this moral framework, Elias symbolizes a Christ-like figure who is ultimately betrayed and sacrifices himself for the others.

It’s interesting how Oliver Stone chooses to depict the Viet Cong themselves. Throughout the film, we only see glimpses of faces and figures, existing mostly as shadows and silhouettes. While many war movies show leaders and soldiers from the opposing side to offer a counterpoint or ratchet up the conflict and tension – thereby making the viewer omniscient of both sides – Platoon takes a different approach. By blurring the enemy into the background, the film makes a powerful statement that perhaps they aren’t the real enemy in this movie. Instead, they operate as a shadowy force of nature that simply cannot be defeated.

Similar works

• The Boys in Company C (1978)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Go Tell the Spartans (1978)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• Hamburger Hill (1987)
• Casualties of War (1989)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• We Were Soldiers (2002)

Other films directed by Oliver Stone

• Salvador (1986)
• Wall Street (1987)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• The Doors (1991)
• JFK (1991)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• Nixon (1995)
• U Turn (1997)
• Any Given Sunday (1999)
• Alexander (2004)