Apocalypse Now
when i woke up today, after weeks of debating about if i should buy
Apocalypse Now or not, i knew. something just told me, "this is something you have to purchase". and while i knew nothing of the film, nothing of its apparently historic history, and nothing of what type of film it was (aside from it takes place during the Vietnam war), something in me just said, "buy it. it'll be worth it". so i gambled. i dropped $57 bad boys on the 3-disc set.
was it money worth spent?
it is to date, beyond a doubt, the best blind buy i have ever made.
i was instantly hooked by the opening scene. the gentle, soft song covered by a backdrop of helicopters dropping bombs instantly set the tone (part of it anyway) for what would be the next 147 glorious minutes. to move from that to spending time with our main Captain character, Ben Willard as he's essentially trapped in his hotel room, waiting for death of some sort to come to following him in his dangerous, classified mission that appears to have no happy ending in sight, was a fantastic experience. one i will relive time and time again.
honestly, as soon as the film ended (no credits, which i found odd) and went back to the main menu, i hit "play" again and have it playing in the background right now as i type this. honestly, i could watch
Apocalypse Now every single day for the rest of my life. i truly believe it is that damn good, and that damn powerful.
now, because i have only seen it once and i'm writing this review before i have time to fully let the themes and meanings sink in, i am still a bit hazy on what maybe it all means. maybe it's a mix of things. i get the impression that Coppola wanted to tell us a few things:
1)
[Show spoiler]we see such young men going off to war and they seem to have no idea what they are getting involved in. now, i'm too young to know what all happened during Vietnam, but from what i've learned here and there, it was the worst war we've been in in terms of time, men, money and foolishness. it seems we (America) made a lot of mistakes along the way and had no idea what we were getting into (psychically, geographical, and environmentally). that could be wrong, i honestly do not know, but numerous scenes in the film point to young hot shots who have never experienced anything with life and death and were not adequately prepared for such events. examples being when Willard first meets the crew on his boat as he goes up river, dancing to music and goofing off, and the USO Playboy party deal that seemed to be the last thing i would expect to see during a war.
2)
[Show spoiler]the simplest things can break a man. example would be when Chef and Willard are in the jungle and the tiger pops out. Chef loses his sh*t and seems almost impossible to calm down. and then of course, Col. Kurtz. is he a broken man mentally? or is he just embracing something that most people cannot?
3)
[Show spoiler]that missions are not just missions and something you can shut off. Willard's already a "broken" man when we meet him, and then having this monumental task given to him obviously isn't going to help. but being in a war, being a soldier or any rank is not at all like any other "job" where when your shift ends you clock out, forget about work, and go home and have fun. sure, you have uniforms, quick detailed mission briefings, but you can't turn your mind off of what you see, smell, hear and experience fully when you leave the war.
there may be more, these may be just what i picked up, and no one else has, but i certainly didn't get the impression that this was "just" a war film. there is something else here. very, very much so.
the film exceeds in tons of categories, but the major ones (for me) were Martin Sheen's performance, the phenomenal score, the gorgeous cinematography, the slow, steady and mesmerizing directing, the completely smothering, dripping off the screen just like Willard's face in the blazing sun atmosphere and of course the haunting visuals (particularly later in the film). i was sucked in from moment one like i said earlier, and it never let up. everything was absolutely perfect
some of my favorite scenes (just to look at or made my skin scrawl) were
[Show spoiler]when the helicopters are flying through the clouds. the gorgeous, clear blue sky, and the way the helicopters are in perfect lines or designs. i was very 
during that scene. and then for eerie, nothing beats
[Show spoiler]the scene where the boat has crossed the last bridge and all the natives are in their boats. dozens and dozens and it's incredibly quiet. the water is calm. and the low drum of the musical score playing softly... 
it put me on
to put it quickly and easily, but few films have true stand out moments.
Apocalypse Now is filled to the brim with them.
some films i give 5/5 to simply because i loved them and had no complaints with. but then there are the films that get a 5/5 not only because i love them, but because they are truly phenomenal, masterful pieces of art.
Apocalypse Now is one of those films. and films that are personal favorites that rank high are films that i can watch any time, for any length of time and are truly great. again,
Apocalypse Now reaches that elite list. i personally cannot wait to watch the bonus features on this set and am extremely glad i bought the 3-disc so i can see the "Heart of Darkness" documentary.
one thing i didn't touch on yet was the writing. i truly think as i watch this more and more and the film "connects" more, that i will see just how genius the script is. there are a lot of films that have great writing, but what struck me about
Apocalypse Now is that the writing seems to have a hidden meaning in every word and conversation. this isn't just about accomplishing a mission. this isn't just about a war. this isn't just about finding someone who has possibly gone insane. it's something much, much more. it's incredibly hard to explain, it simply must be seen and digested to understand. and probably will take 3 or 4 viewings to fully appreciate. as much as i love the film, i know there are details i missed, things i didn't quite understand fully and other tidbits that will come to light with repeated viewings, listening to the commentary and the other features presented here.
one thing that has stayed with me though after the first viewing and now as i'm 30 minutes in to my second viewing: the "outside" of the film / story may be about a war, or taking place in a war, but the "inside" has nothing to do with the war. i believe it's about humanity in general, about finding yourself (as cliche as that sounds), maybe about destiny, maybe about doing what you can to occupy your mind until it runs dry. or maybe i'm just thinking too much into it. i don't really care if i am
because it adds another dimension to the film for me.
already i can tell this was well worth the $57. and i haven't even touched the special features yet!
now, maybe not everyone will feel the way i do, but the film grabbed me from start to finish and really sunk its teeth into me. the unique characters, story, setting and feel are really indescribable and i can do them no justice. simply put:
see the film. knowing this was made in 1979 makes it all the more staggering.
a true work of art on so many levels
my highest recommendation possible
sorry for the extremely long post
5/5
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
), or maybe ever. i have no idea, hard to explain i guess, but it felt like i was watching it through a blurry window where i was witnessing but i wasn't feeling.
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