one. Why do the best Oscars fall in love with the Indochina Peninsula?
Why did the United States intervene in the war in Vietnam? This is actually the third film involving the best Oscars in this region of Indochina. Unlike the awe-inspiring justice of "The Bridge on the River Kwai", the bravery and unyielding shown in "Deer Hunter". In this "Field Platoon", what we saw was madness and killing. At the same time, American filmmakers are also thinking about two questions. One is why we need to intervene in this war, and the other is why we send young people here. The pain of the Vietnam War for Americans is believed to have been unavoidable by Americans in the past century.
The recruit Taylor is a volunteer. He came to this strange place in Cambodia with American ideals and beliefs. He was directly incorporated into an infantry platoon. In the process of carrying out missions with other fighters, he quickly understood a cruel reality, "the only reason for fighting is actually to find ways to make himself alive" story. Soon after getting off the plane, I saw black body bags that were constantly being transported to the plane. The tropical rain forest is a terrible place. It is suffocating with hot flashes, depression, and full of death.
Taylor's recruit life is the same as that of recruits in many war movies. There are no bright spots, only training and aimless patrols. However, unlike "Deer Hunter" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai", the proportion of black soldiers in this movie has increased significantly. Although they did not get too many positive descriptions, these characters began to gradually become flesh and blood, and in order to survive and leave this damn jungle as soon as possible, they gave full play to their wisdom and instincts. Unlike the blacks in "Hot Summer", "Rocky" and "Out of Africa", the blacks in "Field Platoon" are getting closer and closer to the image of civilian blacks in real life. The director seems to want to use the lens to express that black people are also an indispensable part of American society. This is a change in the history of Oscar war movies.
two. Is there a conflict of ideas between civilized society and the military?
Beginning in the 1980s, as a civilized society, Hollywood has always represented blind obedience and despotism. As for the US military in Vietnam, because of the loss of belief in warfare, incidents of corruption in military discipline have emerged one after another. It is precisely because the grass-roots officers and soldiers lack the belief in fighting and the recognition of the correctness of the war, they finally withdrew from Vietnam in a desperate manner. In the film, the director used the lens to restore the US military camps full of drugs, alcohol and gambling. In order to arrest Vietnamese military personnel, they even killed civilians at will. This behavior, without exception, proved that the U.S. military stationed in Vietnam at that time generally lacked a sense of honor and conviction. These numerous descriptions are also reflecting on why the United States is so blindly involved in the disputes in Indochina.
Of course, everywhere, there will be a bright color --- such as Sergeant Elijah in this film. He is the only soldier in the film with a sense of glory and humanistic spirit, although in the end he was killed by his colleague Bath. But this bright color also expresses the director's hope. I hope that the U.S. government can reduce the so-called "freedom and democracy" to create bloodshed and wars all over the world. This blind export of universal values will only cause more and more chaos, violence and instability, and will eventually threaten the security of the United States itself.
three. Does human society rely on war to promote development?
But the director finally showed his pessimism. Because the protagonist Taylor in the film, the once aspiring young man, finally chose to kill Sergeant Barn, although he was to protect himself, but also to avenge his good friend Sergeant Ilya. But what is the difference between this act of rushing human life and Barn? The movie here does not return to the routine of justice in Europe and the United States, but ends with violence against violence. The battlefield is a very scary dye vat. It makes people crazy and desperate, but there are also people who can get happiness and recognition from it. But belligerent is bound to perish, just look at how the once brilliant empires were wiped out in the long river of history, you can know.
In the end, Taylor, who had survived the catastrophe, left in a helicopter, looking down at the piles of dead bodies of Vietnamese soldiers. There was a smile, as if thinking of the classic line: "I'LL BE BACK!". It really is an optimistic American!
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