Platoon (movie)
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Platoon is a 1986 Vietnam war film, written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen and Forest Whitaker.
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Oliver Stone himself served in Vietnam, and upon his return he began writing the script for Platoon as a counter to the vision of the Vietnam war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets. The story is loosely based on his own experiences in Vietnam.
The story starts with a raw recruit Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), the narrator, recently being posted to Vietnam. There he joins his infantry unit and begins to experience warfare in the jungle. His innocence soon turns to cynicism as he experiences the harshness of the jungle and infantry life, witnessing friendly fire to illegal killings, culminating in himself taking an act of revenge against a superior.
The film can be seen as a war for the soul of Taylor and the rest of the unit. While the ostensible enemy was the North Vietnamese, Taylor finds himself immersed in a struggle between two sergeants Barnes and Elias, played by Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe respectively. In the end he sides with Elias (Wilem Dafoe) who has embraced the counterculture ethic of the 60's yet still is a tremendous leader. Ellias is shot by Barnes in a chilling scene near the end of the movie.
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It was both praised and criticised for its presentation of the brutal violence seen in the war. It shows many US soldiers as violent and indiscriminate killers. The missions they carry out never seem to have any purpose or point, which represents the war on a much larger scale.
It won Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Berenger), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Willem Dafoe), Best Cinematography and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.