Chris finally obtains a strong aptitude for the war. Who leads a platoon in the Army? The fears the platoon have harbored for the future are made manifest. They drove me crazy with their goddamn world, Grandma, you know Mom, I dont want to be a white boy on Wall Street, I dont want my whole life to be predetermined by them. I say we frag the fucker. The film closes with hundreds of dead bodies fallen everywhere, with no particular organization, and no body bags. He relies on his knowledge of war to react and perform quickly. While they are leaving a wounded Elias emerges from the jungle running from a group of North Vietnamese soldiers. He was also awarded France's and England's version of the Medal of Honor. And it has shown him the level down to which he too can stoop, the level of cold-blooded, vengeful murder. Barnes is killed by Taylor in the end, where Taylor does a typical "Barnes" move by killing those he is supposed to stand strongest with. ELIAS: Lieutenant, lemme take some men out on the right flank, theres spiderholes back there When the platoon does see action on the all night ambush, Chris and Gardner are obviously insufficiently prepared for combat, which results in Gardner being killed, Tex losing his arm, and Chris getting shot. Sergeant.Pvt Tubbs (KIA): Killed by NVA soldier, in the church battle, we don't see this on screen. Elias, he begins to consider Chris as another crusader that wants to challenge his authority. Hes able to make observations that other people miss. 1st Squad (Alpha): Squad Leader. Chris Taylor is from a wealthy and privileged background. Elias argument to Sgt. A story of triumph that we are subjected to follow. Out here assholes, ya keep your shit wired tight at all times! Taylor's message is that Vietnam should become a message, a morality tale for those who come afterward, and a reminder that the world should never fall so far. By the end of the film, Chris moral integrity has deteriorated to the point where he is able to kill Sgt. It leaves us with the ominous impression that this is definitely a war America is losing. There are so many war movies out there to choose from, yet not many come from the perspectiveof a man who personally lived through the hell that was the Vietnam War. Chris understanding of the war increases as he engages in combat activities: hiking through the jungle from sun up to sun down, digging foxholes, going on point, participating in 3-man listing posts and all night ambushes, etc. Sgt. In this story, the prerequisites work hand in hand with the requirements. Barnes views Chris the same way he views Elias, an agent out to challenge his way of war, a crusader causing dissension among the men, undermining Barnes efforts, and placing the platoon in jeopardy. There are many times when Barnes views Taylor as a hindrance and liability to the platoon, and he ultimately tries to kill him. To prevent Sgt. Barnes extensive experience and knowledge of war gives him a false sense of security that causes him to disregard giving much thought to his decisions and actions. The conflict ends with Barnes ready to kill Taylor, an inexperienced soldier who seemingly doesn't pose a major threat to his standing within the U.S. Army. "Looking back," he says, "We did not fight the enemy. They are the internal moral pillars all humans have that determine whether man's innate capacity for evil is realized or not. Just keep your pecker up and your powder dry, things change. CHRIS: Proofs in his eyes. The new recruit, Gardner gets killed, Tex loses an arm, Chris is grazed by a bullet in the neck on the all night ambush that goes awry. The realm of conflict between Chris and Sergeant Barnes is in their fixed attitudes. Chris gets his revenge and kills Sgt. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books, and anything that has to do with history. Upon leaving the bunker en route to a nearby village, the platoon discovers the mutilated remains of one of its soldiers who was just abducted by the Viet Cong. Barnes murdered Sgt. Why did Elias smile at Barnes? Barnes. Morehouse and Sal are short, Fu Shengs going on an RnR, you dont want to send their asses out on an ambush. But when he don't, the machine breaks down. Dye stands with actors Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, and Mark Moses on the set of Platoon,deep in the jungle in the Philippines (Image from Orion Pictures). RHAH: (puffing on his bowl) How do you know the dinks didnt get him. Why does Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) call Barnes and Elias his "fathers" during the final monologue. Early in the film, its clear that Sgt. Unlike most of the analysis found herewhich simply lists the unique individual story appreciationsthis in-depth study details the actual encoding for each structural item. Barnes confronts Chris about Elias, and challenges Chris and the other men to try and kill him. Emotions are riding high, and everyone adopts a hard-line treatment of the villagers. Immediately experiencing platoon life in Vietnam abruptly begins to change the naive, idyllic notions Chris, a volunteer, has about war. What Barnes is really saying to the men is You dont know about death. (Stone p. 21) Lt. Extreme tension and frustration has overcome the men. Sgt. Chris proves to himself he can soldier as well as any man; what he doesnt bargain on is the experience of killing in cold blood. Whereas, for Sgt. He knows that coming from a wealthy, privileged, protected background had prevented him from being drafted, and that only the poor, ethnic, and lower class citizens are forced to fight for the United States. Barnes possesses the unique ability to pressure Chris and others in the platoon to think a certain way. Throughout the film, we see how Chris is thematically focused on the events he experiences and sees, and is able to pull out the really relevant and meaningful parts which gives him wisdom beyond his years. Copyright 1994-2023 Write Brothers, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The platoons immoral behavior, and the dehumanizing treatment of the villagers supports Elias notion that the U.S. is going to lose the war. CHRIS: He killed him. Barnes impact on Chris eventually dehumanizes him to the point where he is capable of killing his commanding officer, fully conscious that he is committing the same type of immoral act that Sgt. CHRIS: Not just me its the way the whole thing works. All the men in the platoon, including Chris, are functioning on raw emotions and follow Sgt. He also tells a soldier whos screaming when he gets his arm blown off in the ambush to be quiet and, Take the pain!in other words, act indifferent to the pain, so the enemy will not hear him and lock in on the platoons location. Barnes senses his chance to kill Elias when the two are alone in the jungle, their eyes meet with Sgt. Is the village massacre based on any actual events? Barnes also points out to Chris and the other men the pertinent facts of the way he runs the platoon: Elias get into an altercation over Sgt. Critically acclaimed writer-director Oliver Stone (an Army veteran) took audiences into that politically charged time in American history, where the war efforts of our service members were either overlooked or disdained upon returning home,with Platoon. He is not a good man, but he is also tormented by the choices he's made. Seen trying to rape a girl in village scene. Want to fight this war with one hand tied round their balls. Progress for the platoon is in a very grim state. Barnes is running the platoon. Chris shoots him three times at close range to finish him off after he survives the airstrike. Chris must stop thinking that war will define him as a man. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. (to Doc) Doc, tagem and bagem. You got the fresh meat Elias. His endeavor is brought about by his concern for making sure the rich and privileged, like himself, do for the country what the poor and underprivileged are always forced to do. Best Gaming Laptops under $600. BARNES: Yall experts? A nineteen-year-old college drop-out who has volunteered for military service and signed up for combat in Vietnam. Black guy seen combing hair in night ambush.Pvt Moorhouse (KIA): Killed by short round, while using M60. And I ain't gonna allow that in any of you. The ending of Platoon suggests that Elias and Barnes are symbolic of good and evil forces that fight for the soul of Taylor. ELIAS: In 65 - yeah. All the characters are concerned with how the war is progressing, and what type of impact the U.S. military is having in Vietnam. CHRIS: I was wrong. He totters slightly as he circles the outer edge of the hutch. Through all his experiences, Chris has come to learn the true nature of war. The problem is Barnes's fist quite obviously clears the front of Elias's face by at least 5-6 inches. Maybe I can see something I dont yet see, or learn something I dont yet know (Stone, p.14) The platoon gets caught in an enemy ambush, and the Viet Cong causes the platoon to suffer serious casualties. If they had they would have run Barnes was at the eye of our rage - and through him, our Captain Ahab - we would set things right again. Barnes is the one who does the basic planning and strategizing for the platoon. When you know you know. KING: What we got here a crusader? For example: Barnes doesnt seem to give much thought to sending the new, inexperienced recruits, Chris and Gardner, out on a dangerous all night ambush mission shortly after they arrive to the platoon. None of this sits well with Sgt. Elias is missing in the jungle, Chris sets out to find him until hes stopped by Sgt. Elias is the Aramaic form of the Biblical Elijah. As it turns out, Francis stabbed himself as a strategic wartime move. Sgt. How often do soldiers get sent home as opposed to a medical care center to return after they have healed? Dale Dye says in his commentary that Huffmeister is played by an Assistant Technical Advisor called Robert Galotti, he is the guy who rolls down the hill in the opening credits and also chucks a grenade down the well in the village scene.Pvt Francis (WIA): Stabs himself in the leg to get second Purple Heart and thus get sent home, along with Taylor.Pvt Rodriguez (WIA): On chopper with Francis at end of film. Sgt Barnes, Elias sadistic staff sergeant, was in direct contrast to Platoons main character. For example: when Chris throws up and cant physically handle himself the first time he sees a rotting corpse of an enemy soldier in the jungle; When Chris allegedly falls asleep on his watch, allowing the enemy to walk right up on the sleeping platoon; When Barnes realizes Chris knows he lied about Elias being dead; When Barnes overhears Chris trying to convince the others that Barnes killed Elias, and in one of the final battle scenes where the tension between Barnes and Chris comes to a head and Barnes tries to kill Chris during the commotion of hand to hand combat with the Viet Cong. Based on theories and materials developed by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley. Chris takes his hunches and transforms them into theorieshe tries to take his emotional feelings and sensations and apply logic to them. This can be seen early in the film after the platoon engages the enemy on an all night ambush where a new recruit, Gardner, ends up getting killed. Chris loses credibility with the other men because hes treating the incident as a fact when it really isnt certain. Obsessed with the idea of an international communist conspiracy, Truman and his advisors contended that Stalin, Mao, and Ho were united by the single ambition of world domination. (Martin, Roberts, Mintz, McMurry, and Jones, p. 922) By the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, America was financing a major portion of Frances war in Vietnam. The main action in Platoon takes place in 1968. Platoon was inspired by Stone's real-life experiences at theNew Year's Day Battle of 1968, and the director himself makes a cameo during his cinematic recreation. 8 pages of info, trailer, pictures and more. A man who felt he was doing what was necessary. These lines obviously reference the internal conflict amongst his unit, and Taylor statesthat the Vietnam War will always be with him. Francis - portrayed by Living Colour frontman Corey Glover - emerges from a foxhole and correctly determines that help is indeed on the way. Despite his frustration and anger, there is a line that Chris will not cross when it comes to the human rights of others. Live up to what Grandpa did in the First War and Dad the Second. Gallery When the platoon finds a small Vietnamese village, Barnes was seen harassing the villagers, and ultimately, out of anger and cold blood, murders the village chief's wife and holds his daughter at gunpoint. Barnes when Barnes confronts him and others about killing Sgt. Barnes committed war crimes, Sgt. Car-15. Chris seems awestruck that his worse fear could have been realizedhe could have been easily killed if there had been enemy troops in the bunker. "Adagio for strings", composed by Samuel Barber and performed by the New Zealand Symphony. (Film). For as intense as Elias death scene was in Platoon, it took relatively few takes; it only took three or four tries for Dafoe and Stone to capture it. Its a war where there seems to be no master plan, no big picture and no advances. Since these two view the war differently, their view of certain causes is a source of tension for them. By doing so, Barnes is able to call their bluff, and deal with this conflict directly and on his terms. Barnes was a hot headed, gung-ho go getter who actually believed in his cause was was willing to do whatever was necessary to win the war Elias was much less of a fighting man but it can be argued that men like Elias would be better for winning the Hearts and Minds of the population. However, soldiers were strictly forbidden to touch any objects they found in the field that seemed out of place or important. Elias ( Willem Dafoe ), another good fighter, but a man who tries to escape from the reality through drugs. Momentarily losing control of his senses, Chris fires his gun at the feet of a retarded village man. For example, if Lt. Wolfe had given the right coordinates for the air strike, it would have besieged the enemy instead of his own men; Many in the platoon feel that adequate leadership and support would instill the stamina and tolerance necessary to ultimately defeat the elusive Viet Cong. It was at this point the Sergeant Elias arrives, furious with Barnes. Barnes feels whatever strides he can make against the enemy are worth operating outside the moral codes of war. Sgt. Specialist 4th Class.Pvt Manny (KIA): Abducted by NVA and found strung up with throat slit.Church AmbushPvt Lerner (WIA): Wounded while walking point (the front of the line while the platoon was patrolling the forest), seen stretchered after church battle. The platoon keeps losing men to the enemy and to each other. I know he did. Grabbing a loose stick, crudely drawing out their position in the dirt and tracing it out for the Lieutenant. Barnes killed Elias, its just a feeling that Chris has about him. BARNES: Elias - you take your squad and Ill take Tex and Francis from your squad. coming up on Chris, who is soaked now from head to foot in sweat, dizzy, feeling sick, about to vomit: BARNES: What the hells matter with you Taylor! Elias, and the other half with Sgt. During a chaotic jungle mission, Barnes spots Elias and shoots him. Barnes conceives the idea of challenging Chris and the others to kill him. Barnes that Chris and Gardner were not ready for the all night ambush patrol. Platoon won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. Wasnt learning anything (hesitate) And why should just the poor kids go to the war - and the college kids get away with it. 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