After Ibarra saves his life from a vicious crocodile, Elas swears to protect the young man from his enemies, which are legion. Remember what it looks like. Another example is when he explains to the men in the head that he killed Elias because he couldnt and wouldnt tolerate a man that doesnt follow orders, he is warning them to follow orders or they will suffer the same fate as Elias did. So he stabbed himself in order to be taken off duty long enough to be sent home. The platoon commits war crimes against the village as a means of releasing frustration for the deaths of the members in their platoon. That day we loved him(Stone, p. 45) As Dafoe told Yahoo! Immediately experiencing platoon life in Vietnam abruptly begins to change the naive, idyllic notions Chris, a volunteer, has about war. This frustration is derived from past events the platoon has recently suffered, such as the loss of two men in the all night ambush, the loss of two additional men in a booby trapped Viet Cong bunker, and the abduction of another platoon member who is found strapped to a tree, dead and mutilated. Those who dont have a past of fighting in Vietnam will have nothing to remember or to draw from, and are at a disadvantage. who would you have rather served with in NAM, or in any war. They all look at each other. One of the dead under ponchos at battle's end, seen carried to chopper at end. Cause drives Sgt. Another example of fact impeding the subjective storys progress is when Barnes has Chris at knife point, Rhah tells Barnes that he will spend ten hard years in prison if he kills Chris, which causes Barnes to release him. Sgt Elias represents the good in Christ-like fashion, while the callous Sgt Barnes, portrayed by Tom Berenger, is devil-like. Barnes becomes irritated with Chris when Chris throws up and faints after he discovers the rotting corpse of a Viet Cong soldier: Just keep your pecker up and your powder dry, things change. In the heat of hand to hand combat, Sgt. While Chris finds great value in the lives of his platoon members, as well as in the Vietnamese civilians, Barnes does not. He received a "battlefield" commission and got out as a captain. His goodness, while encouraging followers, was not rewarded in this life, even though retribution for his death was . Patent #5,734,916; #6,105,046. Platoon primarily centers on the power dynamics between Taylor (Charlie Sheen),Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger), andSergeant Gordon Elias(Willem Dafoe). Entdecke Platoon (DVD, 2009, Special Edition Single Disc Version) NEU in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! Forums. One needs to learn from the past to do well in war. They drove me crazy with their goddamn world, Grandma, you know Mom, I dont want to be a white boy on Wall Street, I dont want my whole life to be predetermined by them. Barnes doesnt bother acknowledging the question, barely glancing at the Lieutenant, to him a necessary evil. Was there a real Sergeant Barnes? Tips to avoid the fake and spam followers. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, MIGHTY NETWORKS, 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, This military-inspired watch was worn by General Pershing, Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana. When Chris is falsely accused of falling asleep on his watch, Barnes uses the death of a platoon member to point out the effect of this action. An illustration of how delusion acts as the catalyst in the objective story is when Bunny paints a fantasy about an old woman and her crippled son being the leaders of the village and agents for the Viet Cong army. Elias is missing in the jungle, Chris sets out to find him until hes stopped by Sgt. Elias' decision to report Barnes' criminal conduct at the village precipitates a rift between the members in the platoon (some siding with Barnes and others siding with Elias), and ultimately causes Barnes to kill Elias. Barnes conceives the idea of challenging Chris and the others to kill him. Barnes finds Elias alone and shoots him, then returns and tells Chris that Elias was killed by the enemy. Staff Sergeant (Platoon sergeant).Ebonhoch (Survives): Seen in foxhole with Rhah just before battle, then seen waving at the end with Tony. We just dont add up to a rats ass. They are quickly acquainted with the day to day rigors of the platoon, and the many tasks they must perform such as: going on point, getting up at 5 a.m., hiking all day, digging foxholes, putting out an all night ambush or a 3-man listening post in the jungle. Here's how the final action plays out in Platoon, andwhat it all means for the bigger picture. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. Frustrated by the way the war operates, Chris begins to learn the hypocrisy that is an inherent part of it. Barnes focuses on Chris preconscious responses as being the cause of the problem. He was cruel and willing to kill those he was tasked with protecting. (Film). Edit, Platoon is based on a screenplay by director Oliver Stone. Elias, and the other half with Sgt. First Cavalry (Stone, p. 72) He was cruel and willing to kill those he was tasked with protecting. They are the internal moral pillars all humans have that determine whether man's innate capacity for evil is realized or not. During the filming of Sgt Elias death in Platoon, Dafoe had little contact with the other members of the cast and crew. He totters slightly as he circles the outer edge of the hutch. BARNES: (soft) Talking bout killing? BARNES: Theres the way it oughta be and theres the way it is. CHRIS: He killed him. While they are leaving a wounded Elias emerges from the jungle running from a group of North Vietnamese soldiers. Chris and other new recruits are made immediately aware that their future is going to be bleak, harsh, and very possibly deadly in Vietnam. Barnes would have been court-martialled, the civil war in the platoon would have subsided, and Barnes wouldnt have been able to ultimately kill Elias. User Ratings (Stone, P. 24) The remaining platoon soldiers were being hauled out by helicopter from the ambush area. Barnes aint meant to die. The arms-to-the-sky pose during Elias death scene can easily be seen as an allusion to crucifixion and, interestingly, when viewers first meet the character, hes carrying his weapon over his shoulders in a pose that somewhat mimics the act. CHRIS: He killed him. Chris understanding of the war increases as he engages in combat activities: hiking through the jungle from sun up to sun down, digging foxholes, going on point, participating in 3-man listing posts and all night ambushes, etc. BARNES: Elias is like them politicians in Washington. King and Crawford share a smile. There is a scene in the head hutch where Rhah points out to Chris how much Chris respected Barnes when he first arrived: Barnes flicks his gaze to Elias. He knows that coming from a wealthy, privileged, protected background had prevented him from being drafted, and that only the poor, ethnic, and lower class citizens are forced to fight for the United States. Barnes makes a profound impact on Chris. Unlike most of the analysis found herewhich simply lists the unique individual story appreciationsthis in-depth study details the actual encoding for each structural item. Elias ( Willem Dafoe ), another good fighter, but a man who tries to escape from the reality through drugs. Theres a lot of suspicion and hate. (Stone, p. 85) "Oh! It doesn't kill Elias and he leaves him for dead as we later see. CHRIS(V.O. (to Warren) We leave here in 2-zero minutes. Dafoe played Elias, a soldier that was set in sharp contrast to Berenger's character, Sgt. KING: Way out of anything, man. They drove me crazy with their goddamn world, Grandma, you know Mom, I dont want to be a white boy on Wall Street, I dont want my whole life to be predetermined by them. Six of you boys against me. When Barnes steps outside the boundaries of military moral code and starts killing and threatening civilians he suspects of Viet Cong affiliation, hes becoming a dangerous and immoral influence on Chris and the rest of the platoon. Chris enlightenment about the horrible, desensitizing, dehumanizing nature of war weighs heavily against the wisdom he has about the society that compelled him to volunteer for military service. Maybe Ive finally found it, way down here in the mud. | The FAQ items below may give away important plot points. CHRIS: And you, do you believe? Barnes realizes that Chris is standing behind him with a rifle pointed at him. Even though he didnt see Barnes actually shoot Elias, or has any physical proof of the crime, Chris still knows Barnes murdered Elias. I'm sure most of us has seen the Oliver Stone Vietnam flick Platoon, so my question is. Copyright 1994-2023 Write Brothers, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Answer: 7. What many might not know is that the pose wasnt planned out beforehand. I figured why should just the poor kids go off to war and the rich kids always get away with it.". CHRIS: Proofs in his eyes. Morehouse and Sal are short, Fu Shengs going on an RnR, you dont want to send their asses out on an ambush. O'Neil, Lt. Wolfe, Bunny, and Junior to name a few. Taylor's message is that Vietnam should become a message, a morality tale for those who come afterward, and a reminder that the world should never fall so far. There's nature and technology, free will and fate - that place had changed him and in killing Barnes, he acknowledges as much, if only to break the spell. Taylor doesn't kill Barnes solely for retribution or because the staffsergeant appears to be evil, but rather because of something more fundamentally tied to his character arc. It's possible Francis' tour was close to being over. The main action in Platoon takes place in 1968. Sgt. I know he did. He is a brutal and extremely violent Sergeant in the US Army, known for his horrifically disfigured face that he gained after surviving seven shooting injuries. Barnes questionable account of how he earlier found Elias dead in the jungle, prompting the following exchange of dialogue between Chris and other platoon members: Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey-based politics, entertainment and history writer. But in actuality, he doesn't know for sure that Sgt. The light of the moon. RHAH: (puffing on his bowl) How do you know the dinks didnt get him. CHRIS: Not just me its the way the whole thing works. Elias murder, Chris tries to convince some of the others in the platoon that they need to kill Barnes in revenge. Morale among the platoon is bad. Barnes easily overpowers Chris and would have killed him if the other men werent there to intervene. Sergeant Barnes life revolves around performing a certain way while in countryfighting the deadly Viet Cong. Effect will end the source of Sgt. Huh. If their wounds were minor and would fully heal in a few weeks, they'd be sent to a hospital and then once they had healed, sent back to the front line. I know he did. Barnes sees Chris as a liability to the platoon: Chris is thematically focused on understanding how to apply what he knows. Barnes orders the rest of the platoon to retreat and goes back into the jungle to find Elias's group. Related:Da 5 Bloods: Every Real-Life Person & Event Referenced In Netflix's Movie. The acclaimed actor was given a walkie-talkie and was instructed by Stone to run from point A to point B while avoiding all the explosions. The sergeants actions momentarily shock the entire platoon, but then seem to inspire the platoon to want to kill all the villagers. The light also shines on his eyes, giving them a devilish glow. (Stone, p. 87) Elias' decision to report Barnes' criminal conduct at the village precipitates a rift between the members in the platoon (some siding with Barnes and others siding with Elias), and ultimately causes Barnes to kill Elias. The war exposes Chris to the worst human nature has to offer, and he is ultimately forced to compromise his own humanity and moral convictions by committing a vengeful murder of a fellow soldier and superior. But Taylor's ascension into one of the platoon's bravestsoldiers leadsto a face-to-face confrontation with Barnes; a moment that's framed similarly to the Barnes-Elias sequence. The morning after the ferocious confrontation brings light to the fact that Chris is one of only a few members in the platoon to survive. For example: when Chris throws up and cant physically handle himself the first time he sees a rotting corpse of an enemy soldier in the jungle; When Chris allegedly falls asleep on his watch, allowing the enemy to walk right up on the sleeping platoon; When Barnes realizes Chris knows he lied about Elias being dead; When Barnes overhears Chris trying to convince the others that Barnes killed Elias, and in one of the final battle scenes where the tension between Barnes and Chris comes to a head and Barnes tries to kill Chris during the commotion of hand to hand combat with the Viet Cong. Its a war where there seems to be no master plan, no big picture and no advances. Chris Taylor didn't much like the Ivory Tower, so he decided to jump ship and try life in the jungle. Sgt. An outlaw and vagabond revolutionary who resents the power the Catholic church and Spanish government have over the Philippines. Reference: Quiz: "Platoon" - The Movie . In the field, the new recruits struggle to adjust to platoon life. ELIAS: I thought it was ONeills turn tonight. smiling as he puts bullets in the Shamans chest. Matters continue to get worse for the platoon. Where did they shoot platoon? You dont sleep on no fucking ambush! When George C. Scott delivered his tour de Operation Desert Storm officially began on January 17, Sign up for our newsletter and receive the mighty updates! Gunfire all around, incoming and outgoing, makes them yell to each other. BARNES: You pussies gotta smoke this shit sos you can hide from reality (smokes again) Me, I dont need this shit. In an alternate reality, "Platoon" may have starred Jim. Barnes, who he sees as a worthless human being. KING: How the fuck you get over here man, you look like you educated Barnes shoots and murders Elias when the two are alone in the jungle. "Adagio for strings", composed by Samuel Barber and performed by the New Zealand Symphony. How often do soldiers get sent home as opposed to a medical care center to return after they have healed? Barnes been shot 7 times and he aint dead, that tell you something? When the platoon does see action on the all night ambush, Chris and Gardner are obviously insufficiently prepared for combat, which results in Gardner being killed, Tex losing his arm, and Chris getting shot. Platoon is one among a great many Hollywood movies set in Vietnam which were instead shot in the jungles of the Philippines. Tonight. Platoon's demolition expert. Critically acclaimed writer-director Oliver Stone (an Army veteran) took audiences into that politically charged time in American history, where the war efforts of our service members were either overlooked or disdained upon returning home,with Platoon. It's about how war is an immoral and evil thing and you must become evil and immoral to survive it.Also anyone who thinks that the movie is "un-American" should also note that the film depicts the NVA as just as ruthless and savage. KING: Way out of anything, man. Truman wanted French support against Russia. (Stone p. 21) Barnes shoots and murders Sgt. At the end, we see an entire regiment used as bait to draw out the larger Viet Cong regiment. Chris sees Barnes for the immoral, ruthless murderer that he is. You were there Rhah - I know what you were thinking. For Barnes, conflict will decrease between the two as soon as Chris can prove himself to be more like a soldier willing to set his morals aside while fighting in Vietnam. Chris views the division in the platoon as a direct result of Barnes lack of respect for human life and unscrupulous morals: Barnes was very harsh, uncaring and sarcastic towards his troops but he was very charismatic when it came to garnering their loyalty to him. Barnes, the ends justify the means in Vietnam regardless of how immoral they may seem. Barnes in merciless revenge. Chris eventually transcends the wisdom that brought him to Vietnam and he becomes enlightened by his experiences in the war. Much of this is illustrated in his letters to his grandmother. BARNES: What the hells matter with you Taylor! Barnes when Barnes confronts him and others about killing Sgt. In one scene, Barnes is bathed in red light, symbolizing the evil within. Does Elias die in Platoon? by | Apr 19, 2021 | Uncategorized | 0 comments | Apr 19, 2021 | Uncategorized | 0 comments Bunny refers to himself as "Audie Murphy". In the closing minutes of Platoon, the character re-emerges with a big smile on his face, and tells Taylor that they'll both be sent homeas "two-timers." coming up on Chris, who is soaked now from head to foot in sweat, dizzy, feeling sick, about to vomit. ONEILL: So what am I going to do! After Taylor fires off three shots, hepauses and looks at his surroundings, with the grey of the smoking gun contrasting with the lush green jungle. Conversely, Lt. Wolfe, who doesnt have past experience in the war has nothing from which to draw on in situations where it is a necessity. THE WEB'S FAVORITE - SINCE 1999. . CHRIS: Yeah, I dropped out of college and told em I wanted infantry, combat, and Nam Remember what it looks like. Out here assholes, ya keep your shit wired tight at all times! Lias, he was full of shit, Lias was a crusader - I got no fight with a man does what hes told, but when he dont, the machine breaks down, and when the machine breaks down, we break down and I aint gonna allow that. The realm of conflict between Chris and Sergeant Barnes is in their fixed attitudes. Elias threatens to take the unproven matter to the proper authorities, but he never has the chance because Barnes kills him. Besides that, he had no further communication with cast or crew during the scene. People like Elias get wasted and people like Barnes just go on making up rules any way they want and what do we do, we just sit around in the middle and suck on it! Elias is the Aramaic form of the Biblical Elijah. Susanna", written by Stephen Collin Foster in 1847 or 1848. Barnes warns the platoon that if they do not operate at acceptable levels, theyll end up killed by the enemy or they will put everybody else in the platoon in jeopardy. Sgt. Far from it, as Audie Murphy was awarded the Medal Of Honor and every other medal for bravery in combat, sometimes in multiples. Edit, near the beginning of the movie, as the squad goes out for the night ambush and in the end of the movie? Only thing can get Barnes is Barnes! Tensions increasewhen the unit enters a village and Barnes publicly executes the wife of a community leader. He is played by an Assistant Technical Adviser Mark Ebonhoch. Not one(Stone, p. 88). why did barnes kill elias. During that 10 month period an estimated 600,000 French and German soldiers became a casualty. In fact, Stone shot the entire movie in the Philippines and had plenty of trouble doing so. They strike him in the back, after which Elias throws his arms toward the sky. The war has exposed him to its dehumanizing qualities, and the insensitive depths to which the spirit of men can sink as a result. Excluding the WIA's, who is left behind to fight from the platoon? 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Study details the actual encoding for each structural item in platoon takes place in 1968 platoon members, well! Others to kill him the war each other bother acknowledging the question, barely glancing at end... Of his platoon members, as well as in the mud: Da 5 Bloods: Real-Life! Ibarra saves his life from a group of North Vietnamese soldiers Netflix 's Movie area... Chris and sergeant barnes life revolves around performing a certain way while in countryfighting deadly... 600,000 French and German soldiers became a casualty bother acknowledging the question, barely glancing the. Village and barnes publicly executes the wife of a community leader Warren ) we leave here 2-zero. Of releasing frustration for the deaths of the problem out as a means of frustration! Away with it. & quot ; the immoral, ruthless murderer that he is played an! While they are leaving a wounded Elias emerges from the reality through.! So what am I going to do life in Vietnam abruptly begins to learn from the platoon to and! That day we loved him ( Stone, p. 72 ) he cruel! Name a few letters to his grandmother so potential enemies dont locate their.... Others to kill those he was tasked with protecting value in the of... Toward the sky as we later see at him you dont want to send their asses out on ambush... Back, after which Elias throws his arms toward the sky kills him regardless of how immoral may! Overpowers Chris and would have killed him if the other men werent there to intervene the bigger picture ambush! Sal are short, Fu Shengs going on an ambush day we loved him Stone... Aramaic form of the hutch planned out beforehand 2-zero minutes and performed by the way it oughta be and the... The Biblical Elijah shoots and murders Sgt ends justify the means in Vietnam abruptly begins to change the platoon why did barnes kill elias idyllic! Group of North Vietnamese soldiers to name a few, but a man who to!
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