A Visual Look at the Vietnam War

Full Metal Jacket has made me appreciate the armed forces for all they had to do when training and preparing for war. However, I was also disgusted by the actions of some of the soldiers when they were in Vietnam. Some of the movie's scenes sickened me, especially the scene when Joker and Rafterman were in the helicopter with the soldier shooting at innocent rice farmers. Another scene which will haunt me was when the soldiers were "throwing a party" for the dead Vietnamese soldier. It upsets me to think that people could have that much disrespect for others. A quote that interested me is "Inside every gook is an American trying to get out." That kind of mentality really bothers me after learning so much about the Vietnam War, especially knowing that all the Vietnamese wanted was to be free from foreign invaders. I found the quote to be very ironic. Animal Mother addressed the soldiers' lack of knowledge of what the war was really about and why they were fighting in it. It made me wonder how many men tried to escape from the war after being shipped to Vietnam.

As for Platoon, I sympathized for the soldiers for having to live in those conditions shown in the movie like walking around the jungle, dealing with the rain, and suffering from all the insects and leeches. This movie especially shows how soldiers can become less human due to the effects of the war. The soldier Chris expresses this in his letter to his grandmother, saying how he feared losing himself and how the platoon turned into a Civil War. The most horrifying scene to me was the village scene. Everything from Bunny beating up the Vietnamese man with his rifle to the attempted rape of the teenage girl displayes the cruelness of the American soldiers. I was glad that soldiers like Chris still had some respect for the Vietnamese when he stopped the others from raping the girl and standing up to them. Barnes shooting Elias was a surprise for me. I can't imagine that an American would try to kill another American who he didn't like and put the blame on the Vietnamese. I felt that the overall division among the men in the platoon could symbolize the division among the people who were for the war and those against it in the U.S.

In my opinion, both movies were a good representation of the Vietnam War and brought to life what I envisioned war to be like. I can't help but question our motives in the Middle East today. Like the justification used for Vietnam, our government claims we are helping the people. While watching the movie, I didn't really see how the Americans improved the lives of the Vietnamese and fear that the same will result in Iraq.