In the movie Platoon, we follow a group of soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. I found this movie to be extremely enlightening about the real truths of the war. The movie did a great job of depicting the challenging environments experienced by the soldiers. The movie highlighted the steep cliffs, dense shrubbery, bugs, snakes, rain, and humidity. This new environment was extremely unique to the United States military as it was difficult for them to train for these conditions. This gave the Vietnamese an advantage, as they were able to adjust and train for this environment.
I also was surprised to watch the different types of relationships formed in the platoon. The men constantly swore at one another and disrespected each other. It often seemed like they didn’t have each other’s backs and did not act like a team. This makes me question whether the war effort was over before it even started. Can a military force win when the soldiers have a low morale and do not act like a team?
Another eye-opening scene for me was the village scene. When the U.S. soldiers arrived at the village, they immediately harassed the civilians and destroyed their things. The soldiers proceeded to kill innocent civilians, sexually harassed girls, and burned the village down. Whenever I hear about these types of actions in war, I never assume that the United States could be responsible. I often forget that the country we praise to be ours can act the same way as other countries do.
The village scene was very hard for me to watch. It’s hard to think that soldiers did this to helpless people for no reason. I think this scene shows how being in a war environment such as Vietnam changes the way you think and act and one’s psyche. Chris was seen negatively reacting to these scenes but as he was in the war longer the more he lost touch with this side of himself. This could be related to any war and I think Platoon did a good job of showing the moral conflicts the men faced in these extreme conditions.
I agree with you on the village scene being hard to watch. It’s also hard to believe that the US soldiers would do that because as you said, the US praises themselves for being great. I think that being at war, with the stress, anxiety and lack of sleep, eventually begins to affect how one behaves. It’s as if the body goes into survival mode. Not that that’s an excuse to do any of the horrible things, but their perception of life at war is so altered.
I was also somewhat surprised by some of the actions by the American soldiers. It seemed as though we were more against ourselves than what was supposed to be out enemy. The way people within the platoon fought and even killed each other was something I didn’t expect, as well as the violence in the village scene . It’s different seeing US soldiers in this negative light compared to many other war movies.
I also was surprised at how low the morale among the soldiers became throughout the film. I thought it was interesting how he described it as “a civil war within the platoon”. None of them wanted to be there and the horrible conditions and treatment made any sort of commitment to each other disappear. For some of the soldiers, it seemed to became more of a fight to save themselves instead of fighting to help the platoon.