Feature Article on Coppola
Apocalypse Now! - Just another war movie?At first glance, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now! seems to be just that - a lot of bombs, guns, and explosions. But his insightful interpretation of the actual experience of war hits a chord with many, and the in depth themes of the film offer a different perspective. Many areas of war are grey and ambiguous, and the film's very characters prove it, offering something of substance for the world's cinemas.The most obvious theme in Apocalypse Now! is the destruction of war. Right from the beginning, the very opening sequence impresses this upon the audience. A shot of a beach is seen to explode in a fiery blaze, along to the music and eerily relevant lines of "The End" by The Doors - "This is the end. The only end, my friend." And so the stage is set, for 197 minutes of death and destruction, which is an integral part of Coppola's realistic interpretation of war.Different characters, soldiers in the war, realise the destruction they wreak, and yet continue to speak in a violent manner, which belies their attitudes. Colonel Kurtz, for example, a military leader believed to have gone insane, shows his attitude towards the war through a tape-recorded voice over - "We must incin
At first his thoughts are clear and purposeful, directed at his mission. The character of Chef seems to react in the most normal way (relatively speaking. From when he is assigned his 'mission', Willard realises the hypocrisy of the US Military officials. Arms thrashing wildly, he sobs "I don't fuckin' need this! All I ant to do is fuckin' cook!" Chef's understandable reaction to the shock of being inches from death, show how he deals with the war and its horrifying effects. He seems to build up a wall to block off the pain of confusion of the war. Contrast of shots emphasises the effect of war and its horrors - a calm, peaceful village, with children singing, and villagers going about their business. Camera work, such as point of view shots, show choppers swooping in and mowing down innocent villagers. The voice over narration shows how and why Willard's thoughts change, and the impact the war has on him. Elements of ambiguity in the natures of characters, the main issues in the film, and even the ending sequence, allow the audience to draw its own conclusions from the film - although we know the horrors of previous wars, have we truly seen the end of them?. It begins to affect him, and slowly begins to influence his changing attitude and actions in the war. Through different characters, he shows that the actions and attitudes of the US Military are contradictory.
Common topics in this essay:
Vietnam War,
Colonel Kilgore,
Colonel Kilgore's,
Coppola's Apocalypse,
War Elements,
Colonel Kurtz,
Vietnamese Pig,
,
vietnam war,
mental disintegration,
death destruction,
half machine gun,
cut half machine,
handing speeding tickets,
gun band-aid,
ambiguous film's,
band-aid lie,
speeding tickets indy,
machine gun,
tickets indy 500,
half machine,
horrors witnesses,
assassin call,
|
Acceptance Essays
