Oliver Stone

*****
5/5

It took ten years for Oliver Stone to get his script made, but when this film finally reached the screen it became a box-office smash and won four Oscars. Unlike other directors who made major Vietnam movies, Stone has the edge in that he was actually there, as a volunteer who fought for patriotic reasons and got wounded before becoming disillusioned. From the scary opening when the new arrivals are greeted by the sight of body bags bound for home, the movie is an authentically messy tour of duty through the paddy fields where two Americans (Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger) are at war with each other and fight for the soul of rookie Charlie Sheen. A modern classic.
 

(1986)
US   Colour   114 mins