In this deep-dive episode of The 24 Frames Cast, we journey into the dense Cambodian jungles to explore one of the most haunting and overlooked war films ever made: The 317th Platoon (1965). Directed by former Indochina War veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer, this stark, unflinching portrayal of a French platoon’s doomed retreat reveals the final gasps of France’s colonial ambitions and eerily anticipates America’s later tragedy in Vietnam.I will examine the film’s astonishing on-location production, its quasi-documentary realism, and the powerful dynamic between the young idealistic lieutenant and the hardened career soldier L’adjudant Willsdorf, whose lifetime of fighting France’s colonial battles becomes a symbol of a collapsing empire. Through scene analysis, historical context, and cinematic insight, this episode unpacks the film’s place in world cinema and why its quiet, devastating truth still resonates today.

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