For decades, Willem Dafoe has been a household name. Known for his great acting chops and his ability to play a compelling and entertaining villain, Dafoe has become a fan-favorite among casual moviegoers and cinephiles alike. Today, Dafoe is easily recognizable as one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. He has also appeared in franchises like John Wick, The Boondock Saints, Beetlejuice, and even Finding Nemo.
Willem Dafoe’s acting career started in 1980, when he appeared in Heaven’s Gate. Although he was uncredited for this project, Dafoe slowly started to pick up steam over the next few years. Eventually, he landed the role of Sergeant Elias in the Vietnam War-inspired film, Platoon (1986). Elias elevated Dafoe’s career, proving that he truly had what it took to make it far in Hollywood.
Platoon is an Anti-War Film Based on the Director’s Personal Experiences
Platoon was directed and written by Oliver Stone. Stone based the script on his personal experiences as a U.S. infantryman during the war, which really amplifies the horrors of war from the viewpoint of a soldier who doesn’t even understand the reason they’re fighting in the first place. Platoon is the first film of a larger trilogy, all directed by Stone. Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993) round out the trilogy.
Platoon features an all-star cast including the acting talents of performers like Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, and Johnny Depp. The story focuses on Sheen’s Chris Taylor, a new U.S. Army Volunteer, who ends up serving in the 25th Infantry Division under Lieutenant Wolfe (Mark Moses). Wolfe, young and inexperienced, relies on Berenger’s Staff Sgt. Barnes and Dafoe’s Sgt. Elias, the platoon’s Squad Leader.
Taylor finds himself in the middle of constant tension between Barnes and Elias, who have polarizing opinions on how the platoon should run, the difference between right and wrong, and the morality of the war. Barnes is described as a ruthless leader who shows no mercy and goes to extremes to get what he wants. At one point, after one of the platoon’s soldiers is murdered, Barnes goes into a feral frenzy and kills the wife of a village chief during his extreme interrogation tactics. The execution is brutal and public for all the villagers to see.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Elias is described as a kind and compassionate person who constantly questions the ongoing war and the brutality the platoon often uses. Elias unofficially runs a circle of “heads,” members of the platoon who use marijuana to cope with the horrors of war. Elias often steps in when Barnes and his extremist followers go too far, like when he murders the village chief’s wife. Elias is also unafraid of speaking out about injustice, and even calls Wolfe into question when he allows Barnes to go too far without intervening.
Elias is very much the moral compass of the platoon, and the person that the scared, kind, and rational soldiers turn to. As the film unfolds, Barnes worries that Elias might testify against him for murdering innocent Vietnamese civilians, which raises the tension between the two characters. Eventually, when Elias finds himself separated from the rest of his party, Barnes takes the opportunity to shoot him and leave him for dead, claiming he fell in combat to the others.
Elias’ Death Solidified Willem Dafoe as a Hollywood Legend
Image via Orion Pictures
After leaving Elias for dead, Barnes returns to the platoon to aid with the helicopter extraction. There, he informs Taylor of Elias’ death, believing he has gotten away with the idea that Elias was killed in combat. The helicopter takes flight, and the survivors are forced to watch as Elias emerges from the jungle, NVA soldiers hot on his tail. It becomes obvious that Barnes lied about Elias’ death, but there’s nothing anyone can do for him from the helicopter.
Elias runs with everything that he has, pushing forward with the strength and will to keep living, but NVA soldiers gun him down. This scene is so difficult to watch, and yet so engaging that you can’t look away, a difficult balance to find, but one that Platoon captures perfectly here. The scene focuses entirely on Elias as he runs for his life, taking shot after shot.
The first shot knocks him over, but he pushes through the pain, forces himself back onto his feet, and keeps going. The second shot takes him down again, but he refuses to go down without a fight. Eventually, Elias finds himself crawling across the ground, desperately trying to get away from the enemy soldiers, but it’s no use. There are too many of them, and Elias has nowhere to go to find cover. The camera rarely pulls away from Elias’ desperate struggle for survival, forcing the audience to see and feel every devastating blow he takes.
As the helicopter passes overhead, Elias finally hits his knees for the final time, reaching up to the sky as if they will somehow be able to pull him from the Hell that he’s currently in, only to finally collapse into the dirt, dead and left behind. Dafoe’s heartbreaking performance makes the audience scream, cry, and pray for Barnes’ downfall, because Elias never would have been in that situation if it weren’t for Barnes.
Watching the scene feels like a gut punch that knocks the wind out of you, but when you add the context of the rest of the film, it’s so much heavier. Elias is the kind and compassionate character, the person who knows that the war is nothing but violence, and questions every immoral act the platoon must indulge in. His tragic and meaningless death at the hands of his fellow soldier just further proves how pointlessly brutal the war actually is.
Someone like Elias should never have found his way onto the battlefield in the first place, but circumstances led him to the frontlines anyway. His inevitable butchering only furthers the idea that war is messy, cruel, and makes a safe space for horrible men to do even worse things. Barnes proves that it doesn’t matter if you’re friend or foe, if you get in the way of these evil men, you will be treated the same. Without Dafoe’s incredible performance, this scene and the overall story wouldn’t have hit so hard, but now it is remembered as one of the best war film deaths of the genre.
Release Date
December 19, 1986
Runtime
120 minutes
Director
Oliver Stone
Charlie Sheen
Chris Taylor
Willem Dafoe
Sergeant Elias Grodin
