Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Platoon (Oliver Stone 1986)

Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Oliver Stone
Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe
Genre: War, Action, Drama

Oliver Stone's opus to the Vietnam war, earned him two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. As Vietnam war movies go, Platoon is considered by many to be one of the best made. The movie even inspired a successful TV show, Tour of Duty (1987-1990)

Platoon follows a young, idealistic man (Charlie Sheen) who believes it's his duty to enlist in the army infantry and fight in the Vietnam war, circa 1967. Within days of arriving in Nam he finds the war is not as clear cut as he had imaged...and he starts doubting everything he has believed in. His platoon is filled with men who have been pushed to the edge by the horrors of war, causing some of the men to become dangerous to those around them. As his tour of duty progresses he becomes more entangled in the meaning of right and wrong, and the young private (Charlie Sheen) finds himself at odds with the platoons blood thirsty sergeant (Tom Berenger).


Platoon is gut wrenching, it's violent, it's written and directed by Oliver Stone who served in Vietnam. The film has had tons of praised heaped upon it, in large part thanks Oliver Stone's graphically poignant message. Stone compresses the Vietnam war experience into a two hour movie that tells the story of a young solider over the course of two weeks. In those two weeks the American soldiers commit just about every atrocity possible on the poor Vietnamese villagers. And these atrocities did happen, all wars have atrocities, committed by all sides...Much of the atrocities were committed by the North Viet Cong forces against their own people. This is eluded to in the film but never shown, and it should have been covered.

Platoon opens with a beautifully done sequence showing the freshly arrived, green as hell Charlie Sheen out on jungle patrol with some of his men. This scene really nailed what it would be like to be scared and confused as hell in the middle of a jungle, not even being able to see the enemy. That first scene plays out like a documentary and one could believe you were watching found footage from an actual jungle patrol. If the rest of the movie would have followed this philosophy, it would be the greatest of the Vietnam movies.


The final all out battle, which shows the North Vietnamese attacking in mass, against a handful of U.S. army men dug into fox holes, was pretty spectacular...though the scene of the day after the battle, had bodies strewn every couple feet, and yet during the battle we only see a handful of Americans and VC fighting. Overall one of the best films about the Vietnam war.

+

The 33 (2015)

Director: Patricia Riggen
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche
Genre: Biography, Drama, History


About: Based on the actual 2010 Chilean mining disaster that caused a collapse of an 120 year old gold mine, trapping 33 miners, 2000 feet underground for 69 days, with little hope of survival.


Review: This is real, it really happened. It might seem amazing that 33 men could be trapped over 2000 feet below the ground, covered by many tons of solid rock...and survive there for 69 days. But it's true. The movie is basically all about the disaster and the heroic efforts to rescue the men. We of course see the men in the cave as that's where much of the movie takes place. But we also see the rescue effort and the emotional toll that the accident takes on the family members who gather at the mine and stay there until their love ones are rescued.

I thought this was well done, nothing too fancy, as nothing fancy is needed. It was a nice touch that the movie had a short scene at the end that introduced the real miners to us. I know one thing, mining is dangerous!