June was a busy month of birthdays and birthdays and drinking and drinking and trips to Las Vegas and drinking and birthdays. So the writing got delayed a bit. But we're back on track, right, Mike? Right back on the old track. Right back to 1986. With a double dose of Stone!
So, what does Oliver Stone think of war? He doesn’t like it.
And he delivers that message with all the subtlety of, well, an Oliver Stone
film. Actually, two Oscar nominated Oliver Stone films! In the same year! A
feat only accomplished one other time in Academy history by the great Preston
Sturges, no less.
With Platoon and Salvador, Stone takes a look at the constructs and mechanisms of
war. From the big evil governments at the top, to the men – and, make no
mistake, these are men; not grunts, not monsters and certainly not heroes – on
the ground, and everyone in between. And it does not shine a particularly
favorable light on any of them. War sucks. Everyone involved sucks. And we’d be
a hell of a lot better off if everybody just went home. Both movies carry
themes that could be printed on a T-Shirt, but they’re a lot more affective for
having been made into these feature length horror stories.
Platoon, which would go on to win Best
Picture, is a tough film. It’s largely plotless, there aren’t any good guys and
the ending implies the war will never really end. It’s a depressing affair. But
it does a wonderful job justifying that message. The plotless nature of the
film serves to throw you right into the action of the Vietnam War. We’re never
really oriented in the story. Days pass. Battles happen. People go home. People
die. It’s awful. It’s all very effective. And it never glorifies fighting.
Fighting looks terrible in this movie. When you watch something like Saving Private Ryan, even with its visceral
action, it’s easy to picture yourself - in the right time, under the right
circumstances - being there. Being a hero. You do not want to be in Platoon.
Looking closer at the screenplay,
however, I wonder if all this would have been difficult to grasp without the
masterful direction of Stone. We’ve sort of got a protagonist in Baby Sheen,
and he’s got devil/angel mentors on either shoulder – played by the Sniper
himself, Tom Berenger (who would reunite with Sheen a few years later for the
baseball classic Major League! Go Wild Thing!) and Willem Dafoe, who at no time
am I convinced is an actual man and not a space alien wearing a human face.
These characters guide us through vignettes about the war. Taken out of
context, each one could nearly function as a short film. It’s an interesting
device, and again, it has a purpose, but it does lend the script a lack of
cohesion, a lack of narrative thrust. Much like the war itself, no doubt.
Narrative thrust isn’t exactly on
Stone’s mind for Salvador either, but
he more than makes up for it by creating a spectacular character in journalist
Richard Boyle, so perfectly brought to life by James Woods. Boyle is our guide
through war torn El Salvador. He knows the language, the best places to eat and
the cheapest booze. He’s charming and quick-witted, but also self-serving and
relentless. At times, he reminded me of a Woody Allen character with agency. Traveling
with his pal played by Jim Belushi (in a performance that forced me to
reconsider his career), the first half of the movie functions as a travelogue. With
those guys at your side, El Salvador might be a fun place. Dangerous, sure, but
what fun isn’t.
Of course, then the fighting
starts. And El Salvador doesn’t look so fun any more. In the fighting, the
movie gains urgency. It forces the plot into gear. It forces Boyle into action.
But it comes with a bit of a heavy-handed price. We trade scenes of boozing and
parties for scenes of didactic commentary about the war. It can be a drag. And
it doesn’t do much to illuminate our characters further. We already knew Boyle
was willing to risk everything for “the truth”. He said as much, “You gotta get
close to get the truth. If you get to close, you die.” I’m attributing that
quote here to Boyle, as I’m pretty sure he said it, but it was really Stone
himself. And Stone using his characters as a mouthpiece becomes particularly
egregious as the film rolls on. But, hey, it’s an Oliver Stone film.
It’s clear these movies are in
conversation with each other. They’ve got a lot on their minds. And they’ve got
fresh ways to say it. It’s easy to harp on Stone for so blatantly inserting
himself into these films, but without him, they’re just war movies. He’s what
makes them unique. And he’s the reason we’re still talking about these movies
and not, say, Missing in Action.
Unless we want to talk about Missing in
Action. Because I totally will.
Okay, that’s all well and good –
but how do they stack up to the classic film Crocodile Dundee? The answer, you’ll be surprised, is extremely
favorably. I’m giving Salvador the
nod for my favorite script so far because it gives us a great character, and
challenges him the entire movie. Platoon may
well be the better movie though.
1)
Salvador
2)
Platoon
3)
My Beautiful Laundrette
4)
Crocodile Dundee
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