Platoon (1986)
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp.
Plot Summary
A bunch of American soldiers in Vietnam do terrible things and have terrible things done to them until almost everybody dies.
Why I Picked This Film
It’s #86 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest American Films list. Tubi had it available for free, albeit with commercials, but listed it as leaving soon, so I seized the opportunity.
Where I'm At
To give you some perspective, I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. My social media presence is both limited and targeted, and I don’t watch the news on a regular basis. I am very active in my community because that’s a scale that I can grasp and affect. A constant barrage of people being terrible to one another, especially when it’s artificially amplified for ratings, views, and political gain, isn’t something I want to waste my time and energy on. Toxic masculinity and gun violence just make me tired. I prefer to remain optimistic, focus on the helpers, and seek solutions. Then there’s this movie.
Key Themes I See
War is brutal and dehumanizing.
What Did I Like/Dislike
I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out in 1986. I wouldn’t say I liked it then, and I don’t like it now. War movies aren’t my thing, but this went above and beyond. None of the characters are likable, although what they went through was horrible, shock was all I felt. It was impossible for me to muster much empathy for any individual, only that no human being, in general, should be subjected to this. I get that we’re supposed to see that war can turn people into monsters, but very little evidence is provided to show that any of these characters weren’t terrible to begin with. It’s two hours of people being nasty to one another while running through a meat grinder.
I’m not even doing a full post on this. There’s nothing else to say. It’s checked off my list now.