Platoon – Links

Platoon

Platoon – Rescue from above

Child of two fathers

War within soldiers

Religious themes in Platoon

Karma in Platoon

Tour of duty in “Platoon”

Death in Platoon

Platoon – Conclusion

 

Platoon – Conclusion

On its surface Platoon is just a war movie. But underneath the surface deeper themes of spirituality and conflict between right and wrong can be seen. These themes have been analyzed in previous posts. The main focus in “Platoon” is on soldiers and the way they endure the hellish experience of war.

The personal journey through the hell on war is best summarized by these deleted lines in the script:

		ELIAS
	... we been kicking other people's asses so long I 
	guess it's time we got our own kicked.  The only 
	decent thing I can see coming out of here are the 
	survivors - hundreds of thousands of guys like you 
	Taylor going back to every little town in the country 
	knowing something about what it's like to take a life 
	and what that can do to a person's soul - twist it 
	like Barnes and Bunny and make 'em sick inside and if 
	you got any brains you gonna fight it the rest of 
	your life cause it's cheap, killing is cheap, the 
	cheapest thing I know and when some drunk like 
	O'Neill starts glorifying it, you're gonna puke all 
	over him and when the politicians start selling you a 
	used war all over again, you and your generation 
	gonna say go fuck yourself 'cause you know, you've 
	seen it, and when you know it, deep down there ...

He plants his fist in Chris' gut, expelling his breath such is 
the force of the blow - like a power passed between them.

			ELIAS (CONT'D)
	... you know it till you die ... that's why the 
	survivors remember.  'Cause the dead don't let em 
	forget.

 

The final speech is a summary of the movie:

The duty to teach and build is what Elias was speaking about. However evil a war is, a soldier can still find some humanity in himself to push through the hardships and go home with a new experience and a new understanding. He can use those experiences to help make a better world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Death in Platoon

In the “Platoon” analysis posts I  explored the deeper meanings of planes, helicopters, religious objects, people as well as karma. Here I’ll focus on Death.

The last soldiers seems to be different than others. The script states:

As they move out, Chris' eyes moving with the body bags being 
loaded onto the plane.  Moving over now to a motley HALF DOZEN 
VETERANS bypassing them on their way to the plane.  They look 
happy.  Very happy, chatting it up.

They pass the newboys - and they shake their heads, their eyes 
full of an almost mocking pity.

			VETERANS
	Well I'll be dipped in shit - new meat!  Sorry bout 
	that boys - 'sin loi' buddy ... you gonna love the 
	Nam, man, for-fucking-ever.

Chris looking at them.  They pass, except for the last man who 
walks slower than the rest, a slight limp.  His eyes fall on 
Chris.

They're frightening eyes, starved, hollow, sunken deep in his 
face, black and dangerous.  The clammy pallor of malaria clings 
to him as he looks at Chris through decayed black teeth.  Then 
the sun flares out on him and he's past.  And Chris looks back.  
Disturbed.  It's as if the man was not real.  For a moment there.  
As if he were a ghost.

The last man is a personification the death and pain that is following soldiers back home. A specter of the war.

Another death-like soldier is seen in deleted scenes:

The script:

A man is watching him. He's sitting on a sandbag, face in shadow. It startles Chris, something about him. Something different. A deep West Virginia drawl. SMOKING MAN Got a light? CHRIS Uh sure ... Goes over reluctantly, flicks his lighter, cupping it from the wind. The flame catches a sudden, uneasy expression in Chris' face as he sees the Smoking Man. We come around and see what Chris sees in the light of the flame. A face that smiles at him like a death's head, a large ugly blister on his mouth, whiskered, pale - but smiling. A sick man wouldn't smile like this, but he is smiling too intimately, as if he knows Chris from way back. But he doesn't. Or does he? Perhaps it was the man Chris first saw at the airstrip when he came in-country. The same expression of evil, of a man who has seen too much and died, but still lives. Chris feels an unnatural fear passing through him. The Man stands, sucking on his cigarette, stretches. He is thin and very tall, towering over Chris. SMOKING MAN ... later. He goes. Chris watches him, wondering. The man never looks back, a leisurely, confident stroll. In that moment, there is an EXPLOSION from way out in the jungle, about a quarter of a mile. Then another, then small arms fire. Chris looks, knows.

Two personifications of death, one at the beginning and one at the end of “Platoon”.

I believe the second Death-like soldier was cut out, together with the other deleted scenes, so that the deeper themes would remain more subtle and not too obvious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour of duty in “Platoon”

Vietnam and the tour of duty the soldiers must endure in it  have two levels of meaning. One is the surface meaning of a simple military obligation they must serve, and the other is a spiritual level. In the opening scene…

… we can hear the following lines:

Soldier1:You dudes gonna love the ‘Nam… for fucking ever.

 

Soldier2:365 and a wake up. Oh,Lord.

The first line confirms what Chris realizes in the end speech, that the war experience will be with him for the rest of his life. Even when the soldiers leave war and come home they still carry the emotional scars with them.

The second line with its mentioning of the Lord further shows that the war experience is a spiritual journey that the soldiers must endure. 365 days or one full year is what they must serve in the hell that is Vietnam before they are allowed to go home.

Returning home is also mentioned by King and Crawford:

The world King refers to isn’t just his home back in USA but also a place in the world outside the war zone hell.

The subtitle has a mistake. It should be “DEROS” instead of “heroes”. DEROS refers to the date the soldiers are able to return home from overseas duty. This date is the day of salvation for the soldiers.

Just like so many things in “Platoon” Chris’s coming and leaving Vietnam have both similarities and opposites in them.

He arrives to a dusty airbase…

… then flies over a dark jungle to get to his company…

He leaves a dusty battlefield…

… and flies over a sunlit jungle.

I am not sure about this, but I believe the stream we see in the sunlit jungle is the same stream seen at the beginning of the movie. Chris has made a full circle.

 

Karma in Platoon

Before I mentioned how the two ambushes are basically reverses of one another. In the first the Americans win a battle in a Buddhist temple and in the second one the Vietnamese win a battle near a church.

There are more of these parallel and opposite situations in the movie. The parallel of Chris descending into war and ascending from a battle was explained before.

Here are some screenshots of the American position at the end.

The American camp is very similar to the destroyed Vietnamese village. The Americans suffered the same fate as the villagers.

 

Even individual soldiers get a karma response to their deeds, be they good or bad.

When Chris was injured in the first fight, Big Harold comforted him while they waited for the helicopter.

When during the second ambush Harold gets injured Chris comforts him.

 

In the first ambush, it was Junior that fell asleep and then tried to blame Taylor letting the NVA catch them of-guard.

During the burning of the Vietnamese village he, along with some other soldiers, tries to rape a girl.

Then in the third battle he gets scared and tries to run away.

However he hits a tree and falls unconscious.

This gives a NVA soldiers a opportunity to stab him repeatedly in the chest with a bayonet.

If we take the bayonet as a phallic symbol then Junior got raped by the Vietnamese as a karmic retribution for his attempted rape of a Vietnamese child.

 

Another soldier that participated in the rape gets a karmic revenge. Bunny who also killed a mentally handicapped men by bashing his head.

Bunny was seen trying to rape the two Vietnamese girls.

He gets his karma when a Vietnamese soldiers shoots him and then blows his head.

Notice how the rifle in almost in his mouth. It is like the soldier is forcing him to do an oral sex act on the rifle. Just like Junior he is symbolically raped by the Vietnamese in a karmic retribution for his own wrong doings.

 

Barnes is also a victim of karmic justice.

After the first ambush he finds a wounded NVA soldier …

… and shoots him 3 times in the chest.

Notice the emblem on the belt of the NVA soldier.

He shoots Elias in the chest 3 times as well.

In the final battle he gets knocked unconscious and is lying near a tree in a very similar pose to the injured NVA soldier.

He is wearing the same belt as the NVA soldier. That is an interesting parallel. Notice how he already had 3 bigg holes in his shirt foreshadowing his faith.(This could be a coincidence, but still it fits thematically.)

Chris shoots Barnes 3 times in the chest with a Vietnamese weapon (AK-47 or some variant of it). Very fitting that he shoots Barnes with an enemy weapon.

The smoking barrel  of the Ak (barely seen in the picture but visible in the movie) matches with the smoke coming from behind Chris making him almost an angel of revenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religious themes in Platoon

I wrote about some spiritual and religious themes in previous posts and in this I’ll go in-depth about several others details in Platoon.

Religious battle

Two of three battles we see in the movie take place at or near a place of worship.

First battle takes places in a ruined temple (most likely a Buddhist temple).

Statutes of Buddha?

The ruined entrance to the temple can be seen behind the NVA soldiers.

 

The second battle takes place near a ruined church.

Both religious objects are destroyed, symbolizing that spiritual values are forgotten and even destroyed in a war.

In the first battle in the Buddhist temple American forces win forcing the NVA to retreat. In the second one near the church the NVA forces the Americans to flee. An interesting parallel in that both sides lose on what could be considered their “home turf”. The Vietnamese are mainly Buddhist and Americans are mainly Christian yet both of them are forsaken be their god on/near their holy ground.

Divine rain

Another detail is the thematic use of rain just before the two battles.

There is lighting as the soldiers go on ambush.

Followed by heavy rain.

However just before the battle rain stops.

 

This same sequence happens before the second battle. Although this time there seems to be a continuity error as the rain almost stops, is then pouring again, and stops again.

Rain almost stops…… is pouring again….

… then stops.

Rain and lighting seem to symbolise incoming danger and death. They appear to be almost a warning from heaven.

I already described how helicopters appear only when the weather is nice.

Next post will be about the role of karma in “Platoon”.

 

 

 

 

 

War within soldiers

The basis of “Platoon” is a conflict of duality. This is mentioned  in the movie synopsis by Oliver Turnbull:

A young recruit in Viet Nam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

The duality between Barnes and Elias was explained in a previous post. This post will focus the conflict within the soldiers. The deeper religious symbolism in the movie will be explained in the next post.

The enemy is us

The soldiers are fighting between themselves. They are deeply divided between themselves after the village burning.

Chris states the following:

This conflict escalates to a point that Barnes kills Elias. This conflict is also present on an individual level within Chris.

 

The enemy is me

The conflict in Chris arises from him being forced to choose between the methods of Elias and Barnes. He comes close to crossing the line into evil during his torture of the mentally handicapped Vietnamese, but manages to regain his humanity.

His internal conflict is best described by his ending speech where he mentions that the real enemy was within them.

Despite Barnes/darkness still being a part of him, he is focused on the good in him:

But, be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again, to teach to others what we know, and to try with what’s left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Child of two fathers

This post will analyze the characters of Barnes and Elias.

We’ll start with Elias as there is more obvious symbolism going on around him.

 

The Indian Jesus

Elias has several parallels with Jesus. The  very first time we see him he is carrying a machine gun almost as if it is a cross.

His Jesus-like death was explained in the previous post.

Here is an insert from the script proving that this is a death with religious symbolism.

…

Elias crucified. The NVA coming out now by the dozens from the
treeline.

Elias crumbling to the ground. Obviously dead or dying.

 

You might be wondering why I called him an Indian when he is played by a non-Indian actor. It is because in the script he is mentioned to be Native American several times.

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Platoon.html

Sergeant Elias, a handsome, graceful dark-haired Indian kid of
23, the squad sergeant, is taking items out of Chris’ pack – air
mattress, extra unnecessary clothing, extra canteens, grenades,
gas mask, books.

…

Sgt. Elias washes himself, attentive to his body, slender and
well-muscled, and extremely handsome youth. Of Indian blood,
with long black hair, generous smile, wide facial bone structure,
gypsy eyes, and the cleanest white teeth, he could be a young
Greek god.

 

 

The demon Sergeant

It is  implied that Barnes in not an evil man, but is actually caring of soldiers under his command. After the booby trap kills 2 soldiers he is seen almost crying.

However there are several hints in the movie that Barnes might have something very dark in him.

The best example is in the script, when during the final battle Barnes goes into an animalistic rage:

CHRIS
	Barnes!

Barnes swivels instinctively off the corpse and for a petrifying 
moment Chris sees:

A maddened scar of a face, lips specked with foam.  The EYES - 
refracted in a red-green flare overhead - the pupils distorted 
into angry red points.

For Chris it is no doubt the most frightening single image he has 
seen in his life.  It will be in his nightmares forever.  The 
essence of evil: wrath, obsession, anger, fear, hatred, 
permanence - he is paralyzed.

Barnes smashes him full across the face with the broken stock of 
his M-16.  Not even conciously, for at this point, his mind has 
gone over the edge and the entire world is his enemy.  American 
or Vietnamese, it makes no difference as he strikes Chris harder 
and harder.

Chris struggles, moans, his teeth and nose cracked.  Barnes emits 
another chilling yell an springs like a humpback up on his good 
right leg, the left bent - set to deliver the killing blow, the 
mangled rifle pulled to its highest arc.

			CHRIS (CONT'D)
	Nooooooooo!

The PHANTOM FIGHTER JET comes now like a great white whale.  One 
big beautiful monstrous beat of deafening sound.  Its silver and 
white belly hurtling low over the treeline in one giant leap of 
sound momentarily illuminated by a flare.  Then a monstrous ROAR 
of anger.

The bomb ripping Barnes off the body of Chris and spitting Chris 
across the jungle floor - crashing into a tree some 30 yards 
away.

FADE OUT

 

Despite shooting Barnes; Chris still acknowledges him as of his fathers, along with Elias.

Notice the blood spatter on his face. Here are a couple more photos:

The blood spatter looks a bit like Barnes’s scar.

This could be just a coincidence, but it might symbolize that Chris “inherited” something from Barnes. Especially because Barnes cut him on the face during their fight.

It is almost as he marked Chris with his sign.

Barnes himself has a scar almost at the same spot.

 

The best evidence that Elias and Barnes play a role of the good angel and the bad demon is said outright by Chris:

…. as I’m sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called the possession of my soul.

 

 

 

 

Deleted scenes have some more explanation about the duality of Barnes and Elias.

 

Here is what the script says:

EXT. PERIMETER #2 - CHRIS' POSITION - DUSK

Elsewhere on the perimeter, Chris is digging out a foxhole with 
Rhah, as King and Lerner prepare the C's for dinner.

			RHAH
	I know Barnes six months and I'll tell ya something - 
	that man is MEAN, red in his soul like a dick on a 
	dog.

			KING
	Barnes gets killed, his jaws'd go on clacking ...

			CHRIS
	Where's he form?

			RHAH
	Barnes comes from Hell.

			LERNER
	Tennessee someplace.  Hill country.

			RHAH
	Barnes took a bullet right there.  At Ia Drang Valley 
...
		(points to his forehead)
	And the cocksucker SURVIVED - that's BAAAD man.  
	That's his high, baby.  High on WAR!

His eyes flare out dramamtically.  Chris, enthralled in spite of 
himself.

			KING
	He done a year in Japan in the hospital, then when he 
	gets out, the first thing he done is re-up.  Four 
	years he been in the field ...

			RHAH
	... and you know how many times he done been shot?
		(Chris shakes his head)
	Seven times!
		(with his fingers)
	Seven.

			CHRIS
	And he still wanted to come back?

			LERNER
	Does a pee wee wanna take a wee wee?

			RHAH
	The Good Lord works his revenge in strange ways.

			KING
	Yeah, you done said it.  Revenge on US.

			CHRIS
	Does he have a metal plate in his head?

			RHAH
		(smiles)
	You mean he's crazy?  No more crazy'n the rest of us 
	been out in the bush too long.

			LERNER
	Well he ain't normal that's fosure.

			RHAH
	That's what he is ... Baaaa!

His hand flashes forward in front of Chris.  'HATE' is written 
across the left hand knuckles in a sloppy, purplish-black tatoo.  
Chris looking at it.

			RHAH (CONT'D)
	... and he's FILLED with it.  He's roaming these 
	jungles looking for little yellow devils to kill.  
	Remember the Devil does God's work too.
		(pause)
	... and this here's Elias ... Baaaa!

The other knuckle is out - 'LOVE' tattooed across it.  Rhah 
smiles his crazy smil.  Chris stares fascinated at the two 
knuckles side by side.  A moment on his face.

			KING
	Love, yeah!

			LERNER
		(makes a cuckoo sign)
	Here we go again with the crazy preacher stuff.  Rhah 
	seen too many movies.

			RHAH
	Baaa, got no time to go to the movies.  Love and Hate 
	too busy fighting for possession of my soul.

			CHRIS
	Where's Elias come from?

			RHAH
		(interjecting)
	'Lias come naturally.

			LERNER
	... don't know.  Done some time.  Heard he worked the 
	oil wells in Oklahoma, made some bread and washed up 
	in El Lay.

			KING
	Yeah, get married to some crazy El Lay bitch, an 
	actress or somethin', she blew all his bread - LSD, 
	gurus, all that California shit, and then she turns 
	him into the cops on a drug rap.

			RHAH
	Not the only man to meet his Jezebel either.

			KING
	So he got a reduced and come over here.  Nam's his 
	freedom man, Nam's his pussy.  Three years he been 
	here.

			CHRIS
	Three years, Jesus, he's crazy as Barnes ...

			KING
	Well sometimes a man jes don' wanna go back.  How you 
	gonna talk to civilians man?  People back in the 
	world just don't give a shit, y'know what I mean, to 
	them you're a fuckin' animal is all -

			LERNER
		(to Chris)
	I was home on leave y'know and everybody's just 
	worried 'bout making money, everybody's out for 
	themselves, they don't even want to talk about it 
	man, it's like the fucking Twilight Zone back there - 
	you wouldn't even KNOW there's a war on here.  My 
	sister says to me why you have to go there like I 
	started this ...

			RHAH
	Baaaa!  Fuck it, they sold us out - so what!  What'd 
	you'all expect?  Civilian life is phoney BULLSHIT 
	man.  They're ROBOTS man - watchin' dopey television 
	and drivin' dopey cars, and they fuck up, nobody 
	dies.  That's all right, you keep fuckin' up, 
	politicians keep lyin'.  Cause it don't really 
	matter.  Don't mean shit.  So what!  Whatcha want - a 
	parade!  Fuck that too!  No war time no grunt never 
	got no respect.  Till he was dead - and even THEN!  
	You're fighting for YOURSELF man!  You're fighting 
	for your SOUL, dat's all.  Remember dat.  And it's 
	some goddamn battle too - if you'se a man, wrestle 
	with that angel ...
		(swings his entrenching tool in a rhythmic chain-gang style)
	... Love and Hate - the whole shitbang show, that's 
	the story then and now and it ain't hardly gonna 
	change ...

Platoon – Rescue from above

The themes of Platoon overlap with one another making it difficult to separate them into different posts. Because of this some details I analyze might be repetitive. I’ll try to work in a chronological order starting with one of the first things we see in the movie, an airplane.

Planes and helicopters

Platoon begins with Chris arriving into Vietnam and ends with him leaving Vietnam and going home.

The name of the movie is displayed with an aircraft behind it.

Our protagonist arrives in Vietnam by airplane with his fellow recruits. The opening of  the door is almost the opening of the gates of hell for the soldiers.

 

Chris notices the body bags with the dead soldiers being put on what seems to be the same airplane which he came with. An interesting parallel is going on here with the use of airplanes to carry both dead soldiers out and living soldiers in battle.

 

A helicopter is heard above the jungle. Chris most likely came to his platoon by helicopter.

The sun in seen gradually fading away, a visual symbolism of the spiritual darkness in which the soldiers are.

 

Soldiers are in a dark and hot jungle, a symbolic hellish environment in which they must fight.

 

Chris even spots a snake, a symbol of evil and danger.

 

A helicopter is used to resupply soldiers. Notice how the Sun , a symbol of goodness is in the same shot. The helicopter represent almost divine help for the soldiers. A gift from God, if you will.

 

Also helicopters are used to get them out of the ambush. Symbolically the helicopters act like angels lifting the troops out of danger and taking the bodies of the dead. The only one not saved by helicopters is Elias.

There is a church near the landing zone. The spiritual themes of “Platoon” will be explored in a later text.

Yet again the helicopter come in sunny weather. Or maybe thy symbolically bring sunny weather with them.

Even the dead Americans leave by helicopter.

 

Elias is not saved by the helicopters. He is seen dying by the side of a destroyed church. Churches, temples and other religious connections will be analyzed in a separate post.

Just as Elias is dying a helicopter passes over him. It is almost as he is forsaken by the angel-like helicopters.

He is the only one of the soldiers not carried, dead or alive, by a helicopter. He is a symbolical Jesus-like sacrifice. More about Elias in a later post.

 

Helicopter bring them into the perimeter where the last battle of the movie takes place.

Again the weather is sunny. It is possible that helicopter scenes take place only in sunny weather for safety reasons, but thematically that fits with their role as tools of salvation.

At the end battle airplanes drop napalm bomb saving the soldiers from being overrun by NVA. Yet another miracles salvation.

The sky is dark and cloudy matching the dark spot the soldiers are in during the losing battle.

The bombers unleash a metaphorical hellfire of destruction. They act like beings of destruction rather than creatures of salvation like the helicopters.

They obliterate everything in their reach.

 

The very last scene of movie shows Chris being “resurrected” in a helicopter. The script states:

The chopper – with its huge red cross painted on – now rising to
meet God. Smashed on morphine, Chris looking out at the waving
ants below.

He is even speaking of being reborn as a child of two fathers: Barnes and Elias.

The last shot is Chris entering symbolic enlightenment and aftermath, being embraced with light.

It is followed by a dedication to the fallen soldiers of Vietnam war on a bright background, implying that the dead reached resurrection like Chris.

 

Next post will be about Barnes and Elias.