The conception of the film’s idea came about after Oliver Stone’s military service in the Vietnam War following its end in 1968. In an attempt to capture his experiences, Stone wrote a screenplay titled Break, which was a somewhat autobiographical narrative. As an infantryman in the war Stone meant to portray the realities of war and actual experiences of foot soldiers in warfare. Even though Break was not produced into a film, it laid the foundation for the screenplay that would become Platoon.
As a response to pro-war films such as John Wayne's The Green Berets, Stone aimed to counter the perception of warfare in his film. Moreover, disputing the contentions from studios that considered the ultimate vision of the war had already been captured by previous Vietnam films. Platoon as the first film of what would become his Vietnam War film trilogy, Stone intended to portray the authentic side of war rather than the glorification of violence and caricatured concepts about military combat. Hence the anti-war notion in the film and in the subsequent sequels Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993). Furthermore, becoming the first Hollywood picture to be written and directed by an actual veteran of the Vietnam War.
Using his personal experiences as a U.S infantryman in the unpopular war, Stone sought to escape the grandiose nature of war epics striving to achieve the realism of the Vietnam War. Influenced by the anxiety, fear, and confusion felt in warfare, Stone utilized disorienting camerawork that involved claustrophobic feel and grim lighting in the film. Moreover, in order to capture the visceral and gritty attitude of the war, Stone put the cast under an immersive military-grade routine. Thus, depicting a realistic interpretation from a unique perspective of someone who was actually in the war. Additionally, the incorporation of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings which is arguably the most haunting, sad and beautiful compositions effortlessly highlights the dark tone and the depressing attitude of the film. It is melancholic akin to the solemnness and grief of warfare.
