Brothers in Arms

I watched this documentary the other night because "Platoon" is one of my all-time favorite movies. While I enjoyed seeing my fave actors telling how they got the gig and experiences on set, I felt there was too much redundancy in having several actors repeat the same stories and would have preferred they spent more time sharing different, additional stories - unless maybe there just weren't any more of interest. But my main takeaway sadly was with the Director, Paul Sanches, who I pitied after watching his interviews, especially when he seemed to be on the verge of tears at one point. He came off like that star athlete in High School reliving his glory days. Looking at his IMDB page, I saw he was in an episode of The Son, which I totally love and have saved on my DVR, so I watched that episode again and was saddened to see the horrible acting he put out. To go from such potential in Platoon to that pathetic piece of acting was extremely sad. No wonder he made this documentary since it was obviously the highlight of his life. I also enjoyed the personal stories, though the best was Johnny Depp's interview.

Platoon is one of the few handful of films that inspired me to become an actor. The intensity of the story and the potent mixture of the acting, music, cinematography and especially the direction hold up incredibly well to this day. I have a visceral memory of wanting to be part of something like that. If the various talents in this movie had not gone on to some amazing careers, it probably wouldn't have the same legacy that it does, but that speaks to the success of it. The casting and the direction was inspired. It's fun to see all these guys speak about their experience. It's heartwarming. I was curious why they didn't get Stone or Forest Whitaker though. Sometimes the shadow of who's not involved leaves an oversized cast. But this is a sweet documentary, obviously made with love about an amazing and important film.

In 1986, Platoon hit the theaters. 33 years later, it's still my favorite movie. But I felt like I was missing something. I wanted to know more about what it was like to be in the productions. I heard a little here and there. When the anniversary edition of the movie came out on DVD, it included a behind the scenes retrospect. It was good, but I still wanted more.

In 2018, Paul Sanchez, "Doc", fills in all the missing pieces to that quest. His film, Brother in Arms, is a documentary masterpiece!!! From the beginning, you can tell this is going to be a special film. Getting most of his "brothers" together again to offer their recollections of what it was like to make this masterpiece of a film, he has added to the film everyone's humor, happiness, sadness and heart.

The actors, brought together for a paycheck and experience to add to a resume that would help them later, would come to shared connection of brotherhood that would last throughout the years. I understand that the connection these actors felt cannot ever compare to what our servicemen felt, feel and share with their time "in country", but it does allow us to see what was supposed to be just another job, turned into something awesome between the actors.

With that said, I will watch this again and again along with Platoon. Thanks for making such an amazing documentary film.

Wow! I gained even more appreciation for what I consider one of the best War films ever made. Great insight into what it took to create this film.