Tonight on Amazon: Rated 4.6 out of 5 This is one of the best war movies ever made

September 1967: Nineteen-year-old Chris Taylor joins Bravo Company, 25th Infantry Regiment, near the Cambodian border. Chris, from a bourgeois family, is a volunteer and, full of ideals, intends to serve his country well. But the reality is completely different and his illusions will fall one after another. He will also witness a bloody rivalry between the two officers who are excited to…

Oliver Stone, who was involved in Vietnam, was forever distinguished by his experience of the conflict. It was in December 1969 that he came up with the idea of ​​creating a platoon. But no one wanted to produce his script, which was being discussed at the time “Too heavy, too dark and depressing”.

Innocence is the first casualty of war

The first film in a trilogy dedicated to Vietnam, Born on the 4th of July, then Between Heaven and Earth, a painful and brutal initiation story, staged with rare power and realism, Platoon Charlie Sheen obviously wore it, but especially Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe, who are absolutely outstanding in portraying two completely opposite characters.

Stone’s -brilliant- idea was to have them play characters that were the opposite of what the two actors were used to playing. Step out of the sympathetic character roles for Berenger and make way for psychopathic Sergeant Barnes with a scarred face.

On the contrary, Willem Dafoe, who is used to playing villainous roles (the last one was the big bad of the Los Angeles Federal Police), on the contrary, plays the kind and humane Sergeant Elias.

It won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Platoon 38 years after its release (which drew nearly 3 million viewers in France) it remains one of the best war films ever made. But also one of the best ever devoted to the Vietnam War, an inexhaustible source of American cinema.

It would also pull the rug out from under the feet of Stanley Kubrick, who would release Full Metal Jacket a year later and suffer in comparison to its predecessor. It took several years before it was legitimately elevated to the status of a masterpiece and cult film.

But, in contrast PlatoonKubrick’s film aims for a semi-documentary and mental approach to the conflict. Either way, the two complement each other perfectly. And absolutely necessary.