MYST Post #3: Apocalypse Now

After watching The Deer Hunter, I discussed it with my dad, and he really recommended Apocalypse Now. Both movies revolve around the Vietnam War and the physical and mental struggles that people went through. I also thought it would be a good movie to watch because we had just discussed Marlon Brando with his New York school based acting and Dennis Hopper in class, and both of these actors are in the movie.

I thought it was a nice coincidence. 

My attention was captured from the very first scene. From the sounds of helicopters fading in and out coupled with the close-up shots of the helicopters' blades passing through the frame, to The Door's "The End" playing while napalm burns in a Vietnamese forrest, I knew I was in for an interesting film. (This opening scene was part of the Best Music Moments in Film on Shortlist and I agree completely.)

One of the recurring themes throughout the movie was the sad attempt to normalize the situation in Vietnam. General Kilgor, played by Robert Duvall, demands one of the soldiers from southern California to go surfing during combat. The general is adamant that he surfs, all the while bombs are exploding all around them and bullets are whizzing by. (I also liked the cowboy hat Kilgor wore--a nice connection to Dr. Strangelove)

One of the interesting things Coppola does in the film is juxtapose images/actions of complete savagery and killing with images/actions of compassion, sweetness, and innocence. For example, the boat carrying Captain Willard up the river into Cambodia to find a rouge colonel, Kurtz, stops a vietnamese boat to search it. It is the protocol, but Willard is upset they are stopping because that was not part of the mission. Lance goes on the boat to search it, and he obviously can't handle it. He starts violently rummaging through the barrels of rice and other goods, and one of the young soldiers has a machine gun turret constantly aimed at the Vietnamese people, creating a very tense situation. Lance is shouting incomprehensible words to himself, and all of a sudden one of the Vietnamese women runs to the back, and the young soldier opens fire, shooting everything and everyone. Lance goes to the back of the boat to try to see whatever the woman was running to protect, fully prepared to find ammunition and other weapons for the Vietcong. Instead, he finds a Yellow Labrador puppy. A puppy. All of the savage, violent killing for a puppy, the epitome of innocence. These splices do a very good job in emphasizing the absurdity of the war. 

Going into the movie, I had no idea it was based on the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Kurtz, in both forms of media, was once a respected, brilliant, successful person. In the book, he was in the Ivory business, and in the film, he was a colonel. Both Kurtzs are said to have gone insane, breaking off from normalized society, conquering natives with savagery. The movie also shares the book's river theme. Instead of going down the river through the Congo, the river in Vietnam is the setting. The narrator also telling the story as it has already happened is shared amongst the film and book. 

The similarities between the book and film bothered me in one way. I feel the book shows the absolute domination of a people, and in this case, the Africans during the colonization/ivory business in Africa. The movie, on the other hand, shares some of this, but this wasn't its main purpose. The film, in my opinion, had a lot of anti-war sentiments, not just for America, but world-wide. This is where the similarities fall short between the book and movie. This is bothersome because the book and movie didn't share the same purpose, but they had the same story. Maybe I would've felt differently if I hadn't read the book this year in my lit class, but my opinion was already tainted going into the movie. 

The cinematic elements used in the film were very cool. As the film went on, the scenes and shots got darker with more contrast, and the few scenes with Kurtz exemplify this perfectly. His whole face would be obscured by shadow, only parts of it being illuminated by red light, giving him the creepy, powerful aura Coppola was going for. As I mentioned earlier, there was a lot of juxtapositions of contradicting images, disorienting the viewer. I also noticed some good use of some dutch angles, like when Willard and Lance go out to get some of those "damned mangoes" and they are walking through a thick part of a forest when a tiger all of sudden jumps out and seriously frightens them. The dutch angle was perfect for this scene because it reflects the absurdity of the situation; both men were expecting people, the Vietcong, to stalk them, not a tiger. 

This was a really cool movie that connected with a lot of class related topics this year for me, which made it special because I felt I had a basis for critiquing it. Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. 

MYST Post #2: The Deer Hunter

This is not your typical Friday night flick you just throw in DVD player and watch. Oh, no. The Deer Hunter is one of the most intense movies I've ever seen. I've been wanting to watch this movie for a while now, and it's become one of my favorites.

Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep deliver outstanding performances, truly doing this film justice in that it conveys a very difficult subject, the Vietnam War. The layout of the film takes you through three parts: Pre-war, during the war, and Post-war.

I don't want to go to much into depth about the plot because you've seen it Mr. D, but I would also be writing pages because so much happened throughout the movie. To quickly summarize, a gaggle of Russian-American guys live in a little industrial town in Pennsylvania and some go off to war. The story follows them through a wedding of one of their friends, hunting up in the mountains, combat during the war, and then the aftermath of everyone's lives.

The wedding party scene took up a good chunk of the first part of the movie, and it took five days to film. This vibrant scene was action-packed in that it conveyed a whole range of emotions. It is a happy time, but there it a lot of tension built in this scene. One of the characters hits his girlfriend for dancing with another guy, and De Niro's character, Michael, drunkenly flirts with Meryl Streep's character, Linda, who is with Christopher Walken's character, Nick. After watching the film, I think this scene is so important because of the characterization it provides. These Russian-American people are still very connected to their Russian heritage, and yet some of these people go to Vietnam to fight for a country that is not truly their own, no matter how much they want it to be. They may live and work in America, but wedding/recpetion scene still shows their strong Russian connections. All the old ladies are seen wearing babushkas speaking with heavy accents.

Despite their Russian culture, these people are willing to accept the American way, showing this by going off to fight in Vietnam. But, (and I really don't want to give too much away because I think this film is important for people to see) Walken's character, Nick, loses faith in the American way of life, choosing to stay in Vietnam going AWOL, playing suicidal Russian Roulette games with the Vietnamese.

The one scene I want to pay specific attention to is the piano bar scene. I loved this scene. It provided a very, very sobering effect among all of the drunkenness up until now. The group of friends goofed around, drinking heavily at the wedding, going deer hunting, etc, and this is the first scene in which the viewer can feel the heavy sadness, finally seeing the guys acknowledge their imminent involvement in the war. The viewer sees this in the silent exchanges between Michael and Nick, a sort of acceptance. Close-ups on a character's face, with the piano being played in the background also provides this feeling of utter sadness. The camera pans across each person's face, and it is evident all of their minds are thinking about the Vietnam War.

This scene provides a short break from all the craziness and tension of the wedding/recpetion/deer hunt, and it was very important in that it conveyed the raw feeling of sadness--but also acceptance--of the Vietnam War. The scene then cuts straight to combat in Vietnam, being the first of a whole host of gut-wrenching scenes to follow.

The film's sound stood out to me. In Pennsylvania, I had a hard time hearing everything that was being said amongst all of the background noise. In vietnam, it was eerily quiet, and everything could be understood. I'm not sure if this was just a default of the time period in which this film was made, but I really noticed the sound. The music had a big hand in conveying feeling. During the deer hunt, church music was played, giving the hunt a sort of noble, godly feeling towards the feeling, perhaps providing contrast to the pointless killing in Vietnam. The acting was superb. Meryl Streep was said to have improvised many of her lines, and this is the first time I've seen how much expression she has in her face. I'm used to seeing her in the Devil Wears Prada, and in that movie she is an ice queen, and I haven't seen her in many other films. Robert De Niro was excellent as always, and out of all his films I think this was his best performance. During the roulette scenes it is said that De Niro suggested putting one bullet in the chamber to enhance the actors' emotions, but the gun was always checked to make sure that bullet would not be fired. Either way, that shows tremendous dedication to acting.

The controversy surrounding this film is deep. Many critics say that there are no documented cases of the Vietnamese playing roulette, and that they were unfairly portrayed in the film. From my history classes throughout the years, I've learned about the Vietnam War and that U.S. involvement didn't do anything for anyone. Our involvement was pointless. That being said, the vicious, nauseating past time of the Vietnamese handling their POWs in the film was a pointless, superfluous act. The game reflects just utter, pointless killing, providing Cimino's sentiments and commentary towards the war. There has been documented savagery towards all different kinds of people in the Vietnam War, and this film is one way of representing a person's journey through the serious physical and psychological effects of the war and how he handles it.

I still can't describe how I felt watching this movie, and I was left with an uncomfortable, clammy feeling (to emphasize this I watched Seven right after it and actually felt better). I'm still amazed at how many different emotions The Deer Hunter evoked in me, and it is by far one of the most riveting, gut wrenching movies I've ever seen, and I highly recommend it.

4.5/5 stars.