The 317th Platoon

… as John Kerry phrased it when he testified in Congressional hearings. How do you ask a man to do that? This movie concerns the last FRENCH man, as opposed to an American man, that was asked to die in a mistake that was meant to subjugate the Vietnamese to non-Vietnamese rulers. Far, far more that most Americans, the last French man dying in Vietnam is a matter of haunting concern, for I would live with the French “ghosts” of those men for almost five months. Specifically, from April to August 1969 my “home” was LZ Schueller, 11 km to the west of An Khe, along Highway 19, in the Central Highlands. It was precisely in this place that the 2000 men of Group Mobile 100 were annihilated on June 24, 1954. I still have a picture of one of the 10 French tanks that was destroyed, laying on its side, just off Highway 19, which I took 15 years after the ambush. A fairly realistic Hollywood reenactment of this ambush is the opening scene to the movie “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson, which concerned the first large scale battle between American and PAVN forces, in 1965, in the Ia Drang valley in the Central Highlands. The Franco-American historian, Bernard Fall, who himself would die when he stepped on a landmine, in 1967, along “La Rue Sans Joie” (The Street without Joy), told the story of the end of Groupe Mobile 100 in a chapter in his eponymously named history. Though most of the world thought the French war in Indochine ended with the fall of Dien Bien Phu on May 07, 1954, Fall indicates that the last French man who died for the mistake did so along Highway 14, near Ban Me Thuot, in August 1954.Thus, the movie directed by Pierre Schoendoeffer and released on Amazon in 2018 is of more than passing interest. It purports to depict one French platoon, the 317th, abandoning its remote firebase in May 1954 and attempting to reach safety somewhere in Cambodia. Regrettably, I had a LOT of problems with the realism and context of the story, though there were some eternal themes of war, like the inexperienced lieutenant and the battle-hardened noncom who is often the one in charge.The problems commence when the movie opens, at Luong Ba, on 04 May 1954, and thus only three days before the fall of Dien Bien Phu. The viewer must sense that the base of Luong Ba is somewhere in the mountainous areas of Vietnam and that the native auxiliary troops are what the French called Montagnards. But they sure look Cambodian! And Google places “Luong Ba” 309 miles SOUTH of Hanoi, in Quang Tri province, which was once considered part of southern Vietnam.Almost no member of the platoon carries a backpack! Where is the food coming from that they are eating? More troubling still, they appear to have virtually no extra ammunition. Though they were clearly in a jungle setting, their deportment is more like a Sunday stroll in the park… and they decide to ambush a Vietminh company (battalion?) that outnumbers them by a factor of what? 10? Come on. So, instead of carrying food and ammo, they wind up carrying their wounded, until they die. Sure, there is dead-end madness that infects some troops, for example defending Berlin at the end of the Second World War, but it just did not seem plausible in Indochine. The movie did bring out one of the convoluted paths of those drawn to war as opposed to smelling the roses. Willsdorf, the battle-hardened noncom, was from Alsace, and had fought with the Wehrmacht during WW II, and would eventually die on 7 December 1960, on Jebel Amour in Algeria.The director, Schoendoeffer, also had difficulty being attracted to the smell of roses. He would be at Dien Bien Phu when it fell, had considerable film of the battle which was all seized (and presumably lost) by the Vietminh. Being a glutton, he came back to Vietnam in 1965-66, spent six weeks embedded with the US First Air Cavalry Division and produced a movie, “The Anderson Platoon,” which is not available on Amazon.The historian, Anthony Beevor, author of such workable histories as “Stalingrad,” calls the 317th Platoon “the greatest war movie ever made.” Numerous other reviewers have called him out on this “smokin’ something” comment, as will I. I’ll round up to 3-stars.

I attended Air Command & Staff College in the USAF during the Vietnam Conflict. There, I was reminded of High School Friends and their comments when they served in Vietnam. This movie fit right in with 1954, and the French Strategy to lure the Viet Minh to Dien Bien Phu. In this movie, 317th Platoon is portrayed as located in an outlying area - and to become isolated behind enemy lines - in armed skirmishes with Viet Minh moving supplies via bicycles?! There is no Hollywood, but black-and-white rustic jungle with all the ruggedness to survive. Also, the fact is emphasized a WW II veteran of the German Wehrmacht, a French Lieutenant and other nationals comprised the ranks of the French Foreign Legion. During World War II, when the Japanese were drivenout of Vietnam, the French were not supposed to come back. When the tri-colored flag of France was raised,the Vietnam conflict commenced. I liked this DVD movie because of its historic accuracies to portray the jungle warfare in former French Indo-China. Well done with 5 gold stars!

I purchased the Icarus/ Studiocanal version of the film (English subtitles), which is supposed to be the better of the two transcriptions to DVD. The case notes included the praise from the Guardian, "Greatest War Movie Ever", but I would merely call this one "interesting". Very little combat, lots of cigarettes and abject jungle misery, French arrogance, some bad leadership decisions. Trippy Les Baxter kind of background music, strange and exotic jungle animal calls. Subtitles were small and difficult to see against the background. I have watched this five or six times now and am trying to find reasons to like it, but as a war movie guy this one kind of falls short, and thinking that maybe the critics saw other, cerebral reasons to lavish it with so much praise.

The last days of a doomed platoon and the impending end of the French empire form the background of this bleak and uncompromising depiction of desperate combat against hopeless odds. Set against the Battle of Dienbienphu, which ended French control of Vietnam, the film is directed by French novelist Pierre Schoendoerffer from his own novel. As a depiction of human beings in combat, it is on a par with Anthony Mann's great MEN IN WAR, to which it owes a debt. And it sets the stage for Gillo Pontecorvo's masterful BATTLE OF ALGIERS. But there's no other film quite like THE 317TH PLATOON, which deserves to stand as a classic in its own right.

Another story of Vietnam, as it is all non english, it's a bit hard to follow. It is filmed in a rough grainy manner as to appear to be a true "Documentary".

I had never heard of this movie and bought it on a whim but it turned out to be enjoyable and surprisingly authentic. I am a combat veteran of the American Vietnam War, so the combat bits were not particularly realistic (as with all war movies) and it is a bit of a puff piece for the French role in the war - but the sites, the vegetation, the actors, and the climate were the best ever for that part of the world. I was amazed at how authentically the film makers captured the heat, humidity and rain of Vietnam, as well as the difficult terrain.Turns out that it was filmed in Cambodia, which would explain a lot! No wonder the locals looked right and the locale perfect. Great little movie and well worth watching, if only to get a feel for the actual conditions we had in our own war.

Good product good service

French Indochina, May 1954. While the Battle of Dien Bien Phu rages, a nearby French platoon is ordered to abandon its isolated base and march to a more secure location. The journey is fraught with danger: they are surrounded on all sides by forces several times larger than them. Commanding the platoon is a young, inexperienced Lieutenant. His senior NCO is very experienced, a veteran of WW2, but the two don't always see eye to eye.Watched this because famed military historian Antony Beevor regards this as the greatest war movie ever made. Turns out, it's not, but it is very good.Written and directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer and based on his novel, The 317th Platoon is the first "Vietnam War" movie in a sense. It might not be the Americans fighting the Viet Cong or NVA but the French Indochina War was the precursor to the Vietnam War. Replace Americans with French in a Vietnam War drama and you have this movie: the setting, tactics and feel to the movie are very similar.Quite realistic in its portrayal of war: the danger, the randomness, the impact of seemingly minor decisions, the wastefulness and futility of it all. Other than the latter aspect, not hugely profound: is more about the plot journey than the destination. In addition, does drift in spells and the ending is too abrupt, hence the less-than-perfect score.

ce film ne doit pas pris comme un film mais un documentaire car il est tellement proche de la réalité Comment étais nos soldats en Indo avec leurs tripes et surtout leurs valeurs d'hommes tout est dit dans ce film c'était cela la Guerre d'indochine Notre armée lachée par le Gouvernement ( je dirais trahie ) de la France de nos politiquesà titre de comparaison il est comme DASH BOOT en Français le bateau la vie des sous - mariniers allemand il est en 3 versions et là je peux j'ai été sous marinier de Carrière je sais de quoi je parle ce sont des films bible tout est dit tout est là

pas de problèmes ,je vais bientôt vous commander d'autres films