As I watched the two movies again, I could really focus more on the subtle things that I had missed when I first watched it since I was watching for plot the first time and content the second time. The first time around I had watched FMJ first and then watched Platoon and liked Platoon more, but this time I watched Platoon first and then FMJ to see if my preference was due to the order in which I watched it. It wasn't. I mean I think I really did appreciate FMJ more the second time because I knew what was going to happen so I wasn't just following the storyline the whole time, I could pick out areas where the director was trying to really explain something, like the contrast between Joker's peace sign and born to kill helmet, throughout the movie he would talk about killing and wanting to go in the fight, but up to that point he had never really killed anyone, and he was the most pacifist out of the group from the island, hesitating to hit Pyle and opting to be in the Stars and Stripes. Though I saw different things the second time around with FMJ, I just still liked Platoon better when I watched it again. I tend to not watch movies twice around because I would be bored with it, but I wasn't bored with Platoon, I liked it even more I think.
In the scene where Barnes is convinced that the villagers are VC, despite cries from the elderly man that they are not, and even with coaxing from the interpreter that he doesn't even think they are VC and that they are sincerely telling the truth, Barnes kills an elderly woman. This scene had ethos, pathos, logos, choices, values, all wrapped up into an argument between the U.S. soldiers and the villagers over who was VC. From the get go, Barnes already assumed that they were either VC or hiding VC soldiers, saying they were lying to them. Staying true to his character, he argued with the elderly man like the hard ass he is, cussing up a storm, not believing anything the man was saying, arguing with ethos, Barnes just showed how horrible of a person he was by shouting profanities and being completely ignorant of what was being said to him. With the elderly man, his arguing was very collected, he just tried to explain himself and answer whatever they asked, to no abide, provoking pathos as he kept crying out "We are not VC! We are not VC!". Lerner shows some pathos, trying to tell Barnes that maybe it was a scout saying he really doesn't know anything, but Barnes is too hard headed. The dialogue that everyone uses in the situation is an important aspect, they all still cuss and speak like they do if they were at base, but now with different words, edging Barnes on to kill all the villagers, to "do" him in. The argument takes a turn for the worst when the elderly woman comes in, she is fueled by pathos, but in the wrong way, angered by the U.S.'s killing and harassing of the villagers she yells and fights back arguing with Barnes. As the old man tries to coax her down, she tells him to be quiet and let her say what she wants to say, matching Barnes' yelling and arguing. Barnes then proceeds to shoot her. Barnes had many choices, he could have believed the man for one thing, or had not killed the old woman, but he chose to kill her as his form of persuading the old man to tell the truth, or the truth Barnes wanted to hear. The camera pans around the soldiers with uneasy faces, clearly affected by this, since a human life is valued in all retrospects and despite being in a war, she was not a soldier, she was not armed, she was not a VC. This argument did not consist of logos from the platoon's end... at all. As her husband kneels down over her and says,"Oh my god, oh my god, she's dead, she's dead.." you can hear her grand daughter crying out, "Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!" The repeated phrase "Ba Ngoai" was a powerful use of repetition, to see a little girl crying out for her dead grandma over and over is an emotional scene. This incredibly sad scene is uneasy to the audience, but even for the soldiers who stood there watching Barnes, even they are disturbed by his actions, with Taylor trying to to mouth out words to no avail. Using the little girl, he plans to shoot her if the old man doesn't talk as another means of getting the old man to act the way Barnes wants him to, trying to change his mind or else another person dies. Already losing his wife, he does not know what to say to please Barnes since he already lost his wife, he is defeated pleading over and over again that he is not VC to no avail. All the other soldiers want to say something because they know this is wrong, but do not say anything, they don't do anything they let it go on, this ridiculous argument that was never really an argument to begin with, more like a fight, and not even a fight as to whether or not they were VC, because Barnes already thought they were VC anyway. Barnes had already intended to kill everyone in the village, he was just trying to persuade the man to agree that they were VC so we could have reason to kill them all, in the end this scene just reminded me that in war there could be arguments and fights, but this was definitely just a fight, a sad sad fight.
In the scene where Barnes is convinced that the villagers are VC, despite cries from the elderly man that they are not, and even with coaxing from the interpreter that he doesn't even think they are VC and that they are sincerely telling the truth, Barnes kills an elderly woman. This scene had ethos, pathos, logos, choices, values, all wrapped up into an argument between the U.S. soldiers and the villagers over who was VC. From the get go, Barnes already assumed that they were either VC or hiding VC soldiers, saying they were lying to them. Staying true to his character, he argued with the elderly man like the hard ass he is, cussing up a storm, not believing anything the man was saying, arguing with ethos, Barnes just showed how horrible of a person he was by shouting profanities and being completely ignorant of what was being said to him. With the elderly man, his arguing was very collected, he just tried to explain himself and answer whatever they asked, to no abide, provoking pathos as he kept crying out "We are not VC! We are not VC!". Lerner shows some pathos, trying to tell Barnes that maybe it was a scout saying he really doesn't know anything, but Barnes is too hard headed. The dialogue that everyone uses in the situation is an important aspect, they all still cuss and speak like they do if they were at base, but now with different words, edging Barnes on to kill all the villagers, to "do" him in. The argument takes a turn for the worst when the elderly woman comes in, she is fueled by pathos, but in the wrong way, angered by the U.S.'s killing and harassing of the villagers she yells and fights back arguing with Barnes. As the old man tries to coax her down, she tells him to be quiet and let her say what she wants to say, matching Barnes' yelling and arguing. Barnes then proceeds to shoot her. Barnes had many choices, he could have believed the man for one thing, or had not killed the old woman, but he chose to kill her as his form of persuading the old man to tell the truth, or the truth Barnes wanted to hear. The camera pans around the soldiers with uneasy faces, clearly affected by this, since a human life is valued in all retrospects and despite being in a war, she was not a soldier, she was not armed, she was not a VC. This argument did not consist of logos from the platoon's end... at all. As her husband kneels down over her and says,"Oh my god, oh my god, she's dead, she's dead.." you can hear her grand daughter crying out, "Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!" The repeated phrase "Ba Ngoai" was a powerful use of repetition, to see a little girl crying out for her dead grandma over and over is an emotional scene. This incredibly sad scene is uneasy to the audience, but even for the soldiers who stood there watching Barnes, even they are disturbed by his actions, with Taylor trying to to mouth out words to no avail. Using the little girl, he plans to shoot her if the old man doesn't talk as another means of getting the old man to act the way Barnes wants him to, trying to change his mind or else another person dies. Already losing his wife, he does not know what to say to please Barnes since he already lost his wife, he is defeated pleading over and over again that he is not VC to no avail. All the other soldiers want to say something because they know this is wrong, but do not say anything, they don't do anything they let it go on, this ridiculous argument that was never really an argument to begin with, more like a fight, and not even a fight as to whether or not they were VC, because Barnes already thought they were VC anyway. Barnes had already intended to kill everyone in the village, he was just trying to persuade the man to agree that they were VC so we could have reason to kill them all, in the end this scene just reminded me that in war there could be arguments and fights, but this was definitely just a fight, a sad sad fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment