Platoon

Platoon follows the experience of Christ Taylor, a college dropout who volunteered for the war in Vietnam.  The movie shows his experience and that of his platoon, including the harsh conditions and the disagreements between Elias and Barnes (which eventually leads to the death of both).  This film does a great job in illustrating what the Vietnam experience really was for the soldiers.  It showed the physical pain through the long hot marches through  the jungle.  But is also showed the emotional and inner distress experienced by every soldier.  It showed the fear and mental breakdown due to the stress of the war.  It showed how Vietnam changes people, how nice people break down.  While the battle is defiantly a theme in this, because it is a war movie, I think that the most prevalent theme is man vs. himself.  Every man struggles with himself in the movie, and it shows itself in many ways.  The merciless slaughter and rape of accused Vietcong, the fleeing and cowardice during the last battle, even the killing of one's own ally.  While this film is extremely accurate, I feel like its the same thing for two hours and I lost interest eventually. I give this film a 3 out of 5.