Another look...Apocalypse Now

When we watched this movie for the first time, I found it hard to distinguish many of the aspects of cinematography that we have learned about that make this movie a classic. Maybe it was due to my initial dislike of the film, but after our class discussion and watching certain clips again I found myself enlightened. Many of the scenes had more meaning the second time around, and I found that the usage of light and darkness throughout the film mirrored the struggle between good and evil that is ongoing during Willard's travels down the river, and illustrated in the final scene of the film.

Focusing specifically on the last scene of the movie, the ritual sacrifice and where Willard is seemingly comtemplating whether or not he is going to complete his mission, the use of light and darnkess depicts the internal struggles within both Willard and Kurtz. When Willard rises from the water, camo paint covering his face, you can see that half his face seemed to be covered in shadows and the darkness of the night while the other half of his face is illuminated by the light of Kurtz's "camp". I thought that this lighting decision by the cinematographer for this shot really reflects the struggle that Willard has within himself throughout the entire journey that leads him to Kurtz. When we first meet Willard in the beginning of the movie, he is a broken man who seems incapable of emotion after coming back from the war. He is a dark man, who we saw laying in a hotel bed drunk beyond comprehension, and so angry that he punched a mirror with his bare hand. It seems as though the war has brought his life back at home to a standstill, and that the only way he can function is if he is at war. He is an assassin, who just sees his assignment to find and kill Kurtz as a assignment-nothing else. He listens to the tape of Kurtz and just seems him as crazy like everyone else. But as he travels down the river, and starts studying Kurtz's history, he finds out who Kurtz really is and can't figure out why someone so accomplished would go insane. Knowing this, I could see the manipulation of the lighting to mirror this struggle after Willard arrives at Kurtz's camp. In this actual shot, I believe that the lighting represents the struggle of good and evil going on within Willard over whether or not he should go through with his mission to kill Kurtz. It seemed to me that Willard became more human throughout his journey down the river, and as he grew to know more about Kurtz he realized that he didn't want to become was Kurtz already was. It was almost like Kurtz served as a mirror for Willard, showing what he could be if he let the evils of war continue to engulf him. I believe that Willard killing Kurtz was his choice towards good, in that he killed the evil that Kurtz was and left the native people in peace instead of choosing to bomb them like Kurtz wanted him to.

This is another shot that is from the last scene of the film, during one of Kurtz's final monologues. This shot features the same lighting technique that was seen in the shot of Willard rising from the hazy water. This shot alone, with the lighting as the main focus, tells the viewer a lot about who Kurtz is and the struggles he faces between good and evil as well. I could tell that Kurtz was truly overcome by all that war represents, and let that evil nature penetrate his mentality and overcome his actions and thoughts. Some part of him, I believe, knew what he had become because he wanted Willard to kill him in the end. And I think that Kurtz, even more than Willard, was shown under the contrast of light and darkness during his presence on screen to illuminate the dark struggle that has taken over any rationality that he had in the past. It almost made me empathize with him in a way. Seeing this man, even more broken than Willard was in the beginning of the movie, shrouded in dark shadows but occasionally in light made me feel for him much like the way I felt for Jean-Do in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. What has happened to Kurtz truly illustrates the inherent evil associated with war, and I believe that Kurtz could have been a different man if it weren't for the circumstances he was in.

Although these two men aren't humane or good people by any means, I think that this film featured a very real, raw depction of human struggle and emotion. Although the surface impression I got of both Willard and Kurtz made me think that they were both sick animals, a deeper analysis lead me to conclude that they are both very real and feeling people who inherently battled with the definitions, and subsequent actions, of good and evil within the context of war.

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is an action filled movie about the Vietnam War that also has its share of funny and emotional undertones that give the movie more substance than the major box office films we are exposed to today. Apocalypse Now is a story that centers around Captain Willard, an experienced soldier who has been given the most important mission of his career- to terminate the command of a fellow soldier, Colonel Kurtz, who has gone insane and completely lost sight of the line between good and evil. The rest of the movie follows Captain Willard throughout his top secret mission to find and kill Kurtz, a mission that he struggles with as he finds out more and more about Kurtz's decorated history in the Army.

I found this movie to be quite confusing for someone who isn't a complete history buff and who doesn't know every single detail about the Vietnam War. I didn't understand some of the scenes when they would bomb villages that seemingly housed innocent natives, and what also seemed like a lot of unnecessary killing. It bored me, and I thought that Williard track "up the river" to find Kurtz's camp was far too drawn out and uneventful. The most exciting part, to me, of that whole hour long journey was when they took the puppy from the boat that they seached after they brutally killed one of its passengers. I sensed the emotional undertones of the storyline; the constant struggle between good and evil, and how to define what each is during a time of war. This movie had somewhat of a heart, but I thought a lot of the content was confusing and overly emphasized the blood and guts aspect of war. I think that they tried too hard to make this a movie that meant something, but still trying to keep it a testosterone pumped action movie. I just didn't care for it and it is just going to be another movie that I've seen that I don't really care to remember.

Another look...The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

After watching this movie for the first time, I was deeply moved and impressed with this movie and how well the emotion that was integrated throughout this story was portrayed on screen. From the acting to the actual cinematography of the movie, the entire film was a well constructed story that caused me to strongly empathize with Jean-Do's physical and emotional/moral struggle. One aspect of this film that caught my eye was the point of view that was used for the first 20-30 minutes of the film, where Jean-Do is being told about what has happened to him and is first starting to deal with the reality of being "locked in" his body and all that entails. The point of view coming from Jean-Do's eyes, and later on just his one eye is so powerful and such a great decision for this film. It made me feel like I was trapped in Jean-Do's body with him- feeling, seeing, hearing, struggling with everything that he was. I don't think that I would have empathized or connected with him as much if the point of view had been any different. Another aspect of the film that I found important to note was the contrast in color throughout the film, paying specific attention to the scenes of the present in comparsion to the flashbacks that Jean-Do experiences. When Jean-Do is seen in the present, the colors around him- the sunlight, the hospital room, the doctors and specialists, the beach scenery- are all of a colorful variety but the tone of the color is very muted and drab. But when Jean-Do is within himself and experiencing thse flashbacks to the times before his accident, the color palette brightens. For example, when he and his wife are on vacation in Lourdes, the bright lights and colors of the city lend themselves to the nature of his lifestyle; vibrant, exciting, loud, full of life and unpredictable. I feel that this evident color change is comparable to what Jean-Do is experiencing inside himself during this time. He is faced with the feelings of depression and solitude that come along with his condition, and keeps himself sane essentially by relying on his memories and imagination. These two aspects of the cinematography in this film, along with many others, truly made me feel like I was on this journey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening with Jean-Do. I left class feeling like this was one of the most powerful and emotionally/morally insightful movies that I have ever seen, and that it will be on the top of my "Greatest Movies of All Time" list.

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a touching and emotionally charged story about a man, at the height of his life, who his forced to spend the rest of his life trapped in his own body due to a tragic, unconceivable accident. He is forced to see the world through one eye, and live based on his imagination and memories of his lively, exciting past. Throughout his rehabilitation process, he forms close bonds with those around him who have made it their goal to help him to speak and move again. He works to repair broken bonds with his family, and realizes that everything he had taken for granted before his accident is now all that matters to him.

I thought from the moment the credit sequence started that there was going to be something different about this movie, something uniqie that would make it stand out from all other movies that I have seen. And this movie did exactly that. The emotional and the realness that is portrayed through Jean-Do's eye and experience trapped in his own body is nothing like I have ever experience before in any other movie. The amount of empathy I felt for him, and feeling like I could feel everything he was feeling made every scene in this movie so powerful. The flashbacks in this movie really made me understand how this accident essentially saved him from himself, in that he was forced to face the man that he was becoming; a man who took everything in life for granted and lived in the moment. A man who couldn't see what was really important in life. I truly loved this movie and loved the intimiate nature in which it was filmed. It is a movie that has changed my view on life and taking things for granted, and surely a movie that I will never forget.