Platoon Movie Review

Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Platoon Movie Review
Introduction
War movies typically honor American soldiers for their heroic service and the movies are popular in America. However, during the Vietnam War there was growing discontent on the purpose and impact of the war. In Platoon, a young idealist soldier typifies the emerging values of the youth versus the old value on the role of men in the society. The soldiers are at war with Viet Cong communists and among themselves because of differences in values. Unlike earlier movies which show the communist forces as bizarre, Platoon shows that the guerilla fighters are more like a faceless enemy waiting to strike from the jungle. This paper looks into depiction of America soldier’s experience, Vietnamese people, and that of Vietnamese soldier, it also highlights on American imperialism and lessons learned about from the movie Platoon.
Platoon’s portrayal of American soldier’s experience in Vietnam
The movie does present a fairly accurate account of the Vietnam War, as the young soldier who narrates the story tells the story like it happened in the battlefield. Unlike many other Hollywood movies on the Vietnam War and other wars, three is no standard hero, and this the soldiers work together to defeat the communist forces. At the same time, the war takes a toll on the American soldiers, whereby some can kill at the slightest provocation and others still have some degree of morality. The American soldiers clearly do not know about the terrain and the sense of danger that surrounds, and the movie accurately depicts what the soldiers would likely have felt and experienced in the battlefield.
There were diverse critics of the movie from both the left and right, but the movie depicts realties of soldiers during the Vietnam War. Guerilla warfare did inflict damage to the soldiers, and there were instances when they disregarded the rights of the civilians. The movie also shows the soldier’s experience with the living conditions in the country, where constant rain was discomforting to the soldiers. The soldiers had less immunity to tropical diseases, and malaria did affect their stay in the country especially during the rainy monsoon seasons Vietnamese people portrayal versus that of Vietnamese soldiers and the US soldiers. 
The Vietnamese civilians are torn between supporting the foreign American soldiers and Viet Cong army. The movie does not attach much value to the civilians, some of whom are killed by the soldiers as they are assumed to support the enemy. The Vietnamese people are seen as uncooperative in the film, even when the soldiers rely on interpreters to gain their trust. However, they frown upon America’s war efforts as this leads to escalating conflicts with the Viet Cong forces. There were numerous violent attacks on the Vietnamese people who are seen as passive victims who are likely to connive with the guerilla fig...