PLATOON 253
crew. Meanwhile, three soldiers die during a patrol, inciting anger among the troops
as they uncover stored enemy supplies in a neighboring village Barnes uses an inter-
preter to question the village chief (Bernardo Manalili) about his peoples’ involve-
ment with the NVA and then shoots the chief’s wife when she speaks out of turn.
Elias enters the scene and comes to blows with Barnes in response to the senseless
killing. Wolfe ends the fight and orders the soldiers to trash the supplies and tear
down the village. During the destruction, Taylor saves two female villa gers from
being sexually assaulted by two of Barnes’ men. When the unit arrives back at camp,
Capt. Harris (Dale Dye) states that he will investigate the claims of an illegal killing
and will initiate a court- martial if he finds the claims to be true. Barns worries that
if he is found out, Elias might testify against him. The next patrol endures heavy
gunfire, some of which is friendly fire mistakenly ordered by Lt. Wolfe. While Elias,
Taylor, and a few other soldiers enter the jungle to hunt down enemy combatants,
Barnes sends his unit to retreat and, finding Elias alone, shoots him. He tells the
other men that Elias was killed by enemy soldiers. While the troops are airlifted
away via he li cop ter, they see a gravely injured Elias stumble out from the trees, pur-
sued by NVA soldiers, who shoot him down. Seeing Barnes’ facial expression as they
watch the scene unfold below, Taylor realizes what Barnes has done. Once at base
camp, Taylor shares his theory with the other soldiers and encourages them to retali-
ate. Barnes, drunk, overhears Taylor and provokes an attack. Barnes cuts Taylor with
a knife before stumbling away. The soldiers are ordered back to the frontline, and
during the first night, the NVA launch a large- scale attack against the Americans.
Wolfe dies in the attack, along with most of Barnes’ crew. Amidst the madness, Tay-
lor finds Barnes wounded and ranting. Barnes moves to kill Taylor, but the two are
knocked out by an aerial bombing. Taylor awakens the next day, grabs a gun, locates
Barnes, and then kills him. A he li cop ter evacuates Taylor and a fellow soldier, who
has wounded himself in order to secure a leave of absence. As Samuel Barber’s deeply
mournful “Adagio for Strings” plays on the soundtrack (also used elsewhere in the
film), Taylor looks down on a huge crater full of corpses. In some future time he
ruminates (in voice- over), “I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy,
we fought ourselves, and the enemy... was in us. The war is over for me now, but it
will always be there, for the rest of my days, as I’m sure Elias will be, fighting with
Barnes for what Rhah called possession of my soul. There are times since I’ve felt like
the child born of those two fathers. But be that as it may, those of us who did make
it have an obligation to build again, to teach to others what we know, and to try with
what’s left of our lives to find a goodness, and meaning, to this life.”
Reception
Platoon had its American premiere on 19 December 1986 in New York and Los
Angeles and expanded to its widest release (1,564 theaters) over the next five weeks.
Platoon was also screened at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival, where Oli-
ver Stone won the Silver Bear for Best Director. The movie proved to be a major
commercial success. Foreign grosses are unknown, but domestic receipts at the
end of its 27- week theatrical run totaled $133.8 million— more than 20 times its
production bud get. Ticket sales were sharply boosted by eight Oscar nominations