Platoon (9/10): Oliver Stone's personal experience in Vietnam

“I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy; we fought ourselves. And the enemy was in us.”

If all war films were as good and sincere as Platoon it would probably be one of my favorite genres, but there are very few exceptions where the material is treated right as most directors tend to either be incredibly biased debating either in favor or against the war. It’s strange I make this claim since Platoon is obviously an anti-war film, but it treats the material with an honesty you don’t find in other films of the genre. It is much easier to make a statement like this in a war that everyone considers was a terrible mistake to get into. What Platoon has going for it however, is that it was written and directed by a man who actually served in the Vietnam War and decided to share his experience of what really was going on. Oliver Stone handles the material with incredible honesty not shying away from the horrors and senseless deaths in war and he delivers a film that never feels sermonizing (with a few exceptions). Even the villains (not the Vietnam soldiers, but the dubious Sgt. Barnes and his band of brothers) are portrayed with some sort of empathy. Platoon isn’t actually a film that focuses on war between Vietnamese and American soldiers, but rather the civil war that was going on inside the mind of these soldiers that Stone fought alongside with. He wasn’t afraid at pointing out who the real enemy truly was and for that reason the Vietnamese soldiers are barely portrayed in this film. It seems that with Platoon, Stone was able to cope with the effects that the war had on him and the result is a passionate and sincere film. 

In the very opening scene we are introduced to Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) as he has just been deployed to Vietnam and is arriving at the war zone. He narrates the film through voiceover as he is writing letters to his grandma informing her about the war. Unlike most of the soldiers, he wasn’t forced to go to the war, but volunteered after giving up on college. During the first few weeks he is struggling to keep up with the pace of war and no one seems to care too much for him since he’s the new kid who hasn’t yet been exposed to all the carnage they’ve experienced. Chris is currently serving two noncommissioned officers who couldn’t be more different from each other. On the one hand there is scar faced Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) who seems to have been in the war forever and on the other there is Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe) who is much more lighthearted and easy going. Both are experts at war who know they are fighting with unexperienced soldiers. When a village raid gets out of hand both Sergeants take opposite sides and the platoon is divided between those who support Elias and those who take Barnes’s side. Evidently the war has taken a toll on all these men and some begin to question their very participation in it when they realize the enemy is inside each of them. There are also supporting performances from Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, and John C. McGinley who are all in the platoon together.

There is no denying the emotional buildup during the scene of the village raid and Johnny Depp’s face says it all during one of the killings that takes place there. It is one of the most intense scenes I’ve seen in a war film. The performances in this movie are what stood out for me. Charlie Sheen is great in the lead role, but it is the confrontation between Berenger and Dafoe that truly stands out. Both deserved their Oscar nominations despite not winning, but Platoon still took the top honors for Best Picture in 1987. My only complaint with the film perhaps was that it didn’t really need the voiceover narration from Charlie Sheen. Stone could’ve had enough faith in the audience and let them see what he wanted to say with the images alone and not spoon feed them with the narration. The excuse for its inclusion is that he is writing his grandmother, but there are things as the movie goes on that are evidently thrown in there so the audience could understand what he was thinking. It’s just a minor complaint because his character was still the easiest to identify with. The score and the cinematography are both effective and they enhance the horrors portrayed in this film. Platoon still manages to have an impact almost thirty years later and that is why it is a classic.

My Review: Wall Street (8/10)

¨The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.¨

Oliver Stone`s Wall Street is a memorable film with some great performances from Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. Michael won the Oscar for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko, a very greedy corporate businessman who will be remembered among the best villains Hollywood has created. He is not your typical villain, Gekko has the respect of many people and under his expensive business suits and his sly fox-like smile lies a man who`s greed and lust for money has left thousands of people out of jobs. He personifies the evil that can be hidden in Wall Street, as Hal Holbrook`s character warns Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) ¨ the main thing about money is that it makes you do things you don't want to do.¨ This is exactly what has happened to Gordon who only cares about money and he really doesn`t care at what expense it comes to his other fellow human beings. The only goal for him is to continue making more money because as he puts it greed is good and it’s the only way America will improve its economy. Stone has created a memorable character in Gekko because he actually believes he`s doing the right thing and that economy is just a game where some win and others lose, but it’s actually more than that and his greed has blinded him. His character serves as a warning for all the people in Wall Street because that is where money can lead you, but not everyone is bad and in a way Holbrook`s character represents the good in Wall Street. You have to give credit to Stone who in a way pictured what was going to happen in the future if more people like Gekko ran Wall Street. I`m no expert in economy, but I still found this movie very interesting thanks to a good screenplay written by Stone and Stanley Weiser, and some great performances from the cast (excepting Daryl Hannah who was miscast in this film).

Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a young stockbroker who is having a difficult time making it to the top of the firm he is working for. He dreams of one day meeting Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) an extremely successful broker in New York who has become one of the most powerful men in Wall Street, and who Bud totally idolizes. He insists on meeting him and calls his secretary every day trying to arrange a meeting. He finally meets Gekko with the excuse that he is bringing him a present for his birthday and gives him a heads up on buying stock from an airline company. Bud has some inside information about Bluestar Airlines because his father, Carl (Martin Sheen), works there so Gordon takes an interest in Bud for his persistence. Gekko takes him under his wing and teaches him a thing or two about being a broker. The first rule is never to take risks; he tells Bud ¨ I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-Tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.¨ This means that Gordon doesn`t actually play it fair in the market and only buys stocks depending on the information he gathers about a certain company. Bud soon begins to play the same game and finds ways to illegally gather information for Gordon and quickly begins to rise in the firm he works at. Hal Holbrook plays one of his bosses from the firm who actually tries to give him some good advice. His rise to the top may come at a great price however because money easily made can easily go as well.

Wall Street is a very smart drama/thriller that stands out because it has some great characters that we can identify with. Michael Douglas is at his best playing Gordon and the scene where he gives the speech about money and greed is just memorable, Charlie Sheen is also great in his role as an aspiring stockbroker who wants to succeed in what he does. He is so blinded by his worshipping of Gekko that he does things he probably never would`ve thought of doing before. He wants to become Gordon so bad that he doesn`t realize that what he is doing is wrong. He actually thinks he isn`t hurting anyone in the process. At one point he has a serious conversation with his father about his job and Carl tells him to ¨ stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others. ¨ In a way it might be the advice Oliver Stone was trying to give us about Wall Street, too much greed could end up bringing the downfall of the entire system. This is a great movie whether you are into economics or not and can be enjoyed for the performances alone. I don`t know much about economics and stocks, but I still found this movie highly entertaining with some great characters so I recommend this.

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