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The 317th Platoon Movie Review

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Actors: Jacques Perrin, Bruno Cremer
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The 317th Platoon
THE 317th PLATOON (La 317ème Section) is a movie written and directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer in 1965. The picture won the award of the Best Screenplay at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.

The setting is Indochina in May 1954. The 317th section of the French army is given the order to abandon its position and come back south. The section, commanded by the young lieutenant Jacques Perrin, is composed of four French soldiers and a dozen Asian natives. They'll have to avoid the communist forces of Vietnam that have also begun to move south in the direction of Hanoi.


--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of The 317th Platoon
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 40%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 10%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%



Time/Era of Movie: - 1930's-1950's
War Thriller Yes
Armed Forces: - Army
Specific to - Vietnam
War story: - escaping behind enemy lines

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - senior military
Age: - 20's-30's
Hair style - short/standard straight (man)
Body type - very skinny (man)
Events of movie makes character more... - sad
Ethnicity/Nationality - French
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Male
Hair style - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - muscular (man)
How much in movie? - 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality - French

Main Adversary
Identity: - enemy army
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality - Other Asian

Setting
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Southeast Asia
Jungles? Yes
Jungles - heat/bugs
Water? Yes
Water: - river
Misc setting - fort/military installation

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately messy visuals of dead
Movie makes you feel... - depressed/sad
How many deaths in film? - 8 or more
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - seeing breasts
Kind of violence: - land battles - guns
Unusual forms of death - drowned - perforation--bullets
Check here if B&W Yes
Non-American film? Yes
What language? - French
Subtitles? - Yes
Any profanity? - Occasional swearing
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE... - Orchestra/classical
Is this movie based on a - book
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