Honestly decent movie. Obviously there is no Vietnamese perspective but it genuinely tried to express the brutality and impunity of American slaughter. Most people didn’t know just how awful it was in 1986 (most still don’t now but wtv) so I am impressed by their representation of it. If you are interested in films about modern wars I’d say this is one of the better ones. 8/10
You can tell Apocalypse Now is fiction because the US actually tries to stop one of its own war criminals
Most people didn’t know just how awful it was in 1989 (most still don’t now but wtv)
It’s willful ignorance on Americans part. Evident from the same “ignorance” about every American war happening since.
a friend of mine’s dad was sent to vietnam. i never met him, as their relationship was strained. but to hear my friend tell it, his dad was pretty unstable. he was a great mechanic and could fix anything. also apparently a great cook and mostly made southeast asian food, stir-fried/outdoor wok stuff over flame. both skills he passed on to his son.
but he couldn’t ever keep a job and would bring home junk he found. the house and backyard was always full of weird junk he brought home that he had pulled out of a dumpster.
he also made his son watch Platoon with him every year starting when he was 8, which wasn’t long after it came out. i didn’t see it until my teens, but even to this day i find it hard to watch for its brutality.
Platoon always makes me think of that guy and his kid.
Platoon rules. Johnny drama from entourage [CW: violence/spoiler alert]
spoiler
gets bayonetted in the guts in a foxhole by a vietcong soldier after committing a war crime earlier in the film.
Overall the movie shows a lot of America getting its ass kicked. Highly recommend.
Watching bunny get impaled did spark joy tbh
