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Customer Reviews of Platoon [Region 2]

A Movie That Anti-War Media Loved!
First off, this film is fiction and what happened in the movie is not totally square with the facts of this war nor does it protray Vietnam veterans as they really were. It is a liberal attempt to justify their anti-war stance and to show America and the world that all of us Vietnam veterans were out murdering people and burning villages. The plot of this movie does not fly - and yet so may people think this is one of the best war films ever made. It shows what people think of that war and what they wish to keep believing about the men who fought it. <
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>This film helps feed the media's image of crazzy veterans. I was offended by the movie but even more so by the huge reception it has gotten as a "realistic movie" about the war. They could have filmed this at Berkeley and cast the actors from the Cal student body. <
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>I know it is just a movie but it serves no veteran - and is not healing for this nation. It is a very popular film, there is no doubt about it - and the acting is done well. The action is realistic in the battle scenes - but it is plot and the message of the film that gets in the way of me viewing this as nothing more than another attempt to make veterans look bad. I am not against anti-war films - I am just against films that demean the images of veterans. <
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>I served my tour of duty in Nam from October 1966- October 1967 - I was wounded and saw my fair share of combat as a crew-chief/ door-gunner on a Huey. I have been helping my fellow veterans now for 3 decades trying to adjust from that war and our poor welcome back home - this film hurts that effort and is an insult! <
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>Do us all a favor and do not buy this film and enrich those who made this propaganda. Reach out and help those veterans coming home from this war on terrorism - they are in need of your support! Let us not do to them what this country did to us Nam veterans!

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POLITICS IN JUNGLE BOOTS - A VIETNAM WAR DEPICTION THROUGH MOVIES
BY: Fernando de Mello Pimentel <
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>The world we see today, thrusted by a globalized set of integrated political and commercial trading practices, is arguably very dissimilar from the bi-polarized and ideologically lugubrious background of the 20th Century's post World War II years, also known as the "Cold War". At a time when an imaginary line divided the globe in two geopolitical blocks -the capitalist and socialist -, the United States and the former U.S.S.R where the two major players at the chessboard in charge of the strategy for the rest of the World's fate. Both sides designated what was known at the time as their "Spheres of Influence", which in practical terms meant that strategic alliances with other ideologically close countries were drawn with the sole purpose of achieving world-wide domination. Such concept was clearly materialized with the construction of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989), also known as "Iron Curtain", which literarally divided the world into zones of capitalist and communist ideologies. <
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>America's role at the time was to secure the deployment of capitalist economical aid, political influence and military support to other areas of the world in detriment of Soviet communist regime expansion, and vice-versa. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the wars of Korea (1950-1953), Vietnam (1959-1975) and the Soviet-Afghan (1979-1989) and the constant and widespread fear of nuclear annihilation - at the verge of a massive arms race - were all under the spotlight of world foreign affair policies promoted by both parties. The Vietnam War was perhaps one of the most intriguing outcomes of this conflicted era. It has been increasingly depicted in countless hollywood productions and television series ever since the mid 70's. <
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>Debuting in 1978, in this sphere of cinematographic story telling, is Michael Cimino's epic "The Deer Hunter", which describes the friendship of 3 Pennsylvania steel workers of Rusyn ancestry. As strong and realistic as this tale is, perhaps no other film is as psychological and nerve-wrecking as Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", with its intense narrative about an american special forces elite soldier having gone totally insane in the jungles of south asia and having decided to take matters by his own hands and methods. This 1979 motion picture has stirred up audiences around the globe by portraying the horrors of war and its tormenting effects on both civilians and military personnel. Embracing all of this chaotic nature is the fictional Nung River, which metaphorically stands for Colonel Kurtz's gradual but irreversible psychological navigation towards a derranging stream of consciousness which undeniably led him to cross over to the dark side of mental sanity. <
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>While "The Deer Hunter" was a film about friendship ties dilacerated by mental breakdown caused by imprisonment in Vietnamese P.O.W camps and the unbearable hardships of coming home, and "Apocalypse Now" was a harshly psychological metaphor for military desertion and misconduction of War, Oliver Stone's 1986 auto-biographical "Platoon" is the definite account on the sheer loss of innocence every young enlisted man underwent during his tour of duty. In the movie, Stone explores the 25th Infantry Division's Bravo Company Platoon as a microcosm which emblematizes the Pentagon's controversial and misleading military policy to restrain communist expansion in southeast asia. <
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>Political and ideological clashes erupt between the outfit's two main leaders - Staff Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Elias - triggering a polarizing conflict within the platoon which precipitates the decay of morale. The inoperative Lieutenant Wolfe is incapable of controlling the ongoing joust within his group. His total lack of authority over the platoon is accurately portrayed throughout the movie and is somehow Stone's testimony on America's incompetence in directing the war. <
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>Politics is a recurring theme in "Platoon" which uncompromisingly displays the military's unquenchable thirst for power. While Sergeant Barnes is the personification of the ambitious quest for unlimited power, Sergeant O'Neil represents a submissive class of `boot-licking" scoundrels who will give unconditional support to their superior officers in exchange of personal benefits. On the extreme opposite end lies Sergeant Elias, a hippie humanist who cares for his fellow men as if they were his own blood. Elias is an authentic crusader who has been in country long enough - at least three complete tours - to become completely acquainted to the devastating sub-products of war and thus form a solid contrary opinion about it - traces of pacifism can actually be inferred by his non-violent behaviour and clear pursuit of escapism. His natural leadership skills spontaneously blossom as he constantly finds himself supporting and coaching rookies who have just been freshly shipped into the combat zone. On the other hand, Sergeant Barnes gains similar respect from his men by casting terror among both foes and friendlies - which pretty much builds his reputation on being feared. Although morally distinct in character, both leaders are equally sharp on combat skills and military tactics. <
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>In addition to the testimonial nature of the film, "Platoon" is also renowned for its scenes of graphic and verbal violence which have been warmly captured by Stone while in duty. "Platoon" is arguably one of the most authentic and visceral movies to depict the tragedies and misfortunes of an entire generation of Americans living during the cold-war era. It also realistically depicts the crude "Politics in Jungle Boots" of a nation struggling to find its role in a Post-World War II nazi-fascist free world. <
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>***** - A CINEMATOGRAPHIC MASTERPIECE!!!

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Greatest Vietnam movie of all time!
I'm a huge fan of war movies, especially vietnam era ones. Probably because I've been in war and I like to see it depicted on film. This movie does a wonderful job of showing what the vietnam war was like through one particular army platoon. Now I read several reviews that discredited this movie becuase it didn't depict the various men serving in vietnam in a good military manner and I will say that Stone does highlight the drugs and insubordination alot but that stuff did go, a good bit from what I've read and heard from vets. lets face it, people want to see action and drama, not boring robot, do what your told all the time, every time. No matter what people might say, I still think this is an awesome movie and a must see for ANYONE.