9. Platoon
Inspired by Oliver Stone's own experience in Vietnam, Platoon earned substantial acclaim upon its release including a win for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Platoon follows Chris Taylor, a college dropout who volunteers for combat because he sees it as his patriotic duty, unfortunately he soon realizes that he's not fighting just the Viet Cong but the environment, hunger, thirst, and in some cases his fellow soldiers. The standard good guys and bad guys are nowhere to be found in this movie; the Viet Cong are rarely seen except when shrouded in darkness and the Americans are either vicious monsters like Sergeant Barnes or people who back home would be the dregs of society. The one soldier who seems to be a role model for Taylor is Sergeant Elias, unfortunately, he is left for dead halfway through the movie by Sergeant Barnes. By drawing on his own war experiences, Stone managed to create a film that hit harder to home than almost any other. He filmed action scenes that don't excite but frighten, characters that are simultaneously sympathetic and disgusting, and in the process might have created a film that better than any other recreates the feeling of actually serving a tour in combat.