Platoon

First of all, I just want to say how grateful I am and how much respect I have for the men and women who are currently serving or have served in the U.S. Military. Your willingness to serve - not to mention the harsh conditions you have had to endure, the awful things you have seen, and so much more - is deeply humbling. I thank you.

When I decided to watch all of the best picture winners for the past 30 years, I chose to leave out several that I knew I really did not want to see or could not handle, as the completion of this list is supposed to be fun. One of those that I left off is the Hurt Locker. I get really emotionally involved in movies and, having had two of the most amazing, God-fearing men I know pay the ultimate sacrifice in the Middle East, I didn't think I could handle it. So I am not sure what in the world made me think I could handle Platoon.


Set on the front lines of the Vietnam War, Platoon brings to life what the soldiers of the day experienced out in the jungle. This is a fictional story based on Oliver Stone's time as a soldier, but it does a good job of making one feel the never-ending fear, drudgery, and horrors the soldiers must have experienced. No wonder so many of them never want to talk about it...it was surely a living hell. I get sick to my stomach thinking about soldiers coming home, not to a hero's welcome, but to anger and jeers, being called some of the worst things in the book.

I have to be honest...I only made it 50 minutes into the movie before I had to turn it off. I'm still counting it as complete for the purpose of the list, as I believe the response it elicited from me is exactly what Oliver Stone wanted. For those that had to actually live through the real deal, who could not turn it off after less than an hour (including my uncle, a hero in my eyes), thank you.