Cinequest: BROTHERS IN ARMS

BROTHERS IN ARMS

Brothers in Arms is a documentary on the making of Platoon, directed by Paul Sanchez, who played Doc.  Platoon, of course, won the Best Picture Oscar and launched the careers of many actors in its young cast.   Except for Tom Berenger, this was the first movie job for most of them. including Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp and Willem Dafoe.

Director Oliver Stone, a Vietnam vet himself, assembled the cast two weeks before filming and put them through basic military training in the Philippine jungle under real military trainers.  The cast developed an usual bond during that process, as well as in coping with the mercurial Stone.

In Brothers in Arms, we get to hear from the actors (except for Dafoe, who was making a movie in South Africa) and the military advisers (but not from Oliver Stone).  There plenty of entertaining anecdotes and some insights into the filmmaking.