#and in general it's like every movie in the world sucks except the godfather for some reason and I'm supposed to believe them because they

[babisawyer]

idk why everyone likes letterbox so much everyone on there is kinda stupid.

[introvertguide]

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001); AFI #50

The current movie for review from the AFI top 100 is the most recent of the films, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). This was the introduction of director Peter Jackson to much of the mainstream American audience despite him having a 20 year history of film making in New Zealand. The film is beautiful in so many aspects, from the special effects to the cinematography to the sets creating the world of Middle Earth. The film received 12 nominations at the Academy Awards and received 4 of them, a feat unheard of for an epic fantasy film. This is also the only “incomplete” film on the AFI list because there are no other “too be continued” stories. There are some films that are first and second parts (specifically The Godfather 1 and 2), but this is the only one that intentionally stopped with intent for the story to pick in the next film. With that being said, the sheer number of characters and the intended incomplete nature of the film makes it almost impossible to summarize without just going scene by scene. There are 100 movies on this list and I am not going to set any precedence that I will be doing that, so here is a very brief synopsis of what happens in this film without diving into too much of the lore concerning the rest of the trilogy or The Hobbit:

SPOILER WARNING!! I DON’T KNOW WHY IT IS NECESSARY ON THIS ONE, BUT I DO IT EVERY TIME AND I WANT TO BE CONSISTANT!! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS BY NOW OR ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE STORY, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY VERY YOUNG, LIVE UNDER A ROCK, OR PURPOSEFULLY AVOIDING IT!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED SO I DON’T WANT TO GET ANY NOTES ON THIS ONE!!!

So here is the general outline, there was an evil guy named Sauron that gave out rings of power to the Elves, Dwarves, and Humans in a realm called Middle Earth. This land is a fantasy realm that has a mix of Dark Age castles mixed with monsters and human like races. It looks strangely like New Zealand through a lot of the country side. Coincidence I am sure. Anyway, Sauron tricked the different races because he kept for himself one ring to rule them all and bind the ones wearing the rings to him. This did not go over well so the humans, elves, and dwarves rose up and fought Sauron and his armies and were able to get the master ring during battle. There was a chance for them to destroy the ring but human corruption prevented this and the ring was eventually lost. It eventually ended up in the hands of a man that kept it close and allowed it to suck away his life until it was stolen by a small human-like creature named Bilbo Baggins. The ring was taken on many adventures (see The Hobbit films for this story) and it gave this little hobbit prolonged life, but it also became an addictive burden. Bilbo decided to go off and leave the ring for his nephew and this is where the story begins. I know, it’s a lot.

A wizard named Gandalf (Ian McKellen) comes to the hobbit village as Bilbo is leaving and makes sure the ring is left in the hands of the nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood). The wizard confirms the ring is the one that rules them all and reveals that Sauron is regaining power and wants the ring. For the safety of the shire, Frodo must take the ring to Rivendell, home of the Elves, to figure out what must be done. Gandalf has to take care of some business so some other hobbits - Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan), and Pippin (Billy Boyd)  - get wrangled into the journey and the group of four go off to a local human town to meet Gandalf and continue forward. This short trip proves treacherous as the 9 humans that were given rings of power had been corrupted and turned into Nazgul that are attempting to track down the little group of hobbits. Gandalf does not show up, but the group run into a ranger named Strider at the human tavern and he helps fight off the ring wraiths. With the help of his elf girlfriend, Arwen, the group are able to make it to Rivendell where they are presumably safe for the time being.

A meeting is held at Rivendell and representatives of the different races all show up to decide what must be done. The ring must be destroyed so a fellowship to transfer the ring to Mount Doom is formed. It is made up of the four hobbits, Gandalf the wizard, an elf named Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Strider the Ranger who is actually a human king named Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), a dwarf named Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and another human named Boromir (Sean Bean). I have seen enough movies with Sean Bean as a side character to know that he is for sure going to die. It is only a matter of when.

So the group heads off toward Mount Doom and initially start by taking a path through snowy mountains but have to turn back and instead decide to go under the mountains. The dwarf is excited because he can visit his cousin who is king under the mountain. Alas, all they find is skeletons and an evil race created by Sauron called orcs. This race also seems to have other evil creatures enslaved including a cave troll. The Fellowship is chased through the bowels of the mountain until the orcs suddenly back off and the group finds something even worse, an ancient evil called a Balrog. Gandalf takes on the creature at a stone bridge and screams the now memed words “You shall not pass!” The Balrog falls into a pit but drags Gandalf down as well, reducing the number in the group by one wizard.

The group mourns the loss very briefly (and dramatically) before traveling to an elven forest where Frodo is told by a queen that he will have to take on the quest alone and that one of the fellowship will betray him. They continue on and it turns out that a wizard named Saruman that was corrupted by Sauron (confusingly close in name, I know), has created super buff orcs called Uruk-hai (pronounced “Orick Eye” all blended together) to hunt down the party. Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo but immediately makes up for it by sacrificing himself to protect the hobbits from the super orcs. Sean Bean was kind of a bad guy and was killed. What a surprise. That actor really needs to find different roles or he is going to spend his entire career being type cast. 

Anyway, Frodo and Sam break away from the group to go off on their own, the other two hobbits are captured and taken by the orcs, and then Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli decide to track everybody down. To be continued.

This probably seems like quite a short synopsis for a 3 hour movie...but legitimately the movie is a visual spectacle in which not a lot happens. Most of the movie is traveling, fighting, introducing the lore of the world, and introducing characters. Not a whole lot of plot progression in this particular movie, but it sets the stage for the second film to be nothing but battle and progression (an hour long battle of Helm’s Deep which is amazing), while the last one is nothing but battles and resolution of every story line. It is an incredible trilogy and this is only the beginning and it had audiences drooling for more.

In fact, Peter Jackson films set the standard for special effects for the early 21st century. His team took home the Oscar for best visual effects in 2001 for Fellowship of the Ring, in 2002 for The Two Towers, in 2003 for The Return of the King, and in 2005 for King Kong. No film series with consecutive releases has done this except Lord of the Rings (not even with Star Wars, Marvel, and DC universe films coming out constantly).  The series really is something special. Attempts had been made to tell the trilogy as an animated movie, but no drawings could do the world justice. It took advanced computer graphics, motion capture technology, an expansive New Zealand countryside, a quirky director that had envisioned this world his whole life, and a dedicated cast and crew that was fully committed to the project. It is an amazing piece of filming.

If I have any complaints, it is that there is some really corny drama. The amount of times that Elijah Wood overacts in pain or despair is more digits than I have. Especially when the group is mourning the loss of Gandalf...it is kind of embarrassing. It is that “inconsolable parent who lost a child” acting with scream crying and shouts of “Noooooo!” It is all the hobbits, too, which doesn’t help that they are the size of children and are having a despair tantrum. Luckily they keep going and that is a one minute scene, but still it is embarrassing. Also, Frodo is stabbed and presumed dead twice. I can see why there were no nominations for best actor because it was not the best acting.

It is all made up for by the incredible battles. For me, it is the chase under the mountain with the orcs and the cave troll and the balrog. That is about 30 minutes of constant fight or flight that left me short of breath. I realized I kept forgetting to breath I was so mesmerized by the constant intensity. There is also a good amount of comedy since the hobbits are generally peaceful farmers and they don’t know how to (or want to) have adventures and keep messing things up. Pippin and Merry keep touching things that they shouldn’t and it brings all kinds of trouble. I think it is one of them that knocks some armor into a well that catches the attention of the orcs under the mountain.

Two specific scenes that I found memorable in that they are burned into my brain forever were the Nazgul fight and the appearance of the cave troll. The Nazgul are absolutely terrifying in that they have no face and have only one intent: kill whatever they are hunting. A good comparison would be to Dementors in the Harry Potter universe. The Nazgul are like Dementors with swords and armor. What is worse, Frodo can use the one ring to make him invisible, but it puts a target on him for the Nazgul and they come straight for him. They idea that you can’t hide from this evil and attempting to will make you stand out more is kind of horrific. I found the Nazgul truly disturbing. The cave troll is just awesome and huge. At no point was I worried for the team on this occasion because the wizard, elf, dwarf, and humans seemed undefeatable. It was more of curiosity about how they were going to handle this challenge. The detail of filming all the actors and sets so they were affected by the troll made the huge beast and the threat it posed in an enclosed space seamless. 

There was some question why this movie was on the AFI list and the other movies in the trilogy were not, especially with the third film winning 10 Oscars including best picture. It is because this was the watershed film that made the others possible. I got to see the film in the theatre and it was an experience like no other. I cannot think of a movie that had created such a complete fantasy world like LOTR and it made for a truly cinematic experience. I generally do not like movie theatres because people around me whom I have no control over can affect my experience and I am not normally willing to pay for that. However, the theatre I was in had tiered level seating that was graded enough so that nobody blocked my view and ample leg room that also prevented kicking from behind. It was a thing of beauty and I went and saw the other two films in the theatre as well. It was amazing.

So does this film deserve to be on the AFI 100? My goodness, I would think less of the AFI if it wasn’t. It changed audience expectations of what a movie could be and set the tone for the new millennium as far a big budget cinema. Would I recommend it? Please, I own it. If you come by my place and you haven’t seen it, then I will be happy to put aside 3 hours and watch it again with you. It is the easiest epic film to get through, in my opinion, and I don’t think you will be sorry to give up the time. Just a fantastic movie.

[eldritchsurveys]

176.

part 6 of that weird long bzoink survey

Have you ever mowed the lawn? >> A couple of times long ago.

Do you get an allowence? >> No, I get an income.

Where do your parents work? >> ---

Did you ever know your great grandparents? >> No.

What does family mean to you? >> It doesn’t really mean anything to me. For all intents and purposes, Sparrow is the only person that counts as “family” because once we’re married that’s literally what we’ll be, legally. I have no connections to the people I’m blood-related to, and I’m not even interested in having “family” at this point because it’s been such a source of bullshit for me. I don’t even want “in-laws” lmao because her mother is always like “you’re part of the faaaaamily” meehehfhhhhhhh fuck that.

What does friendship mean to you? >> I don’t know. I’ve always had a hard time really understanding what a friend is supposed to be for me, which is partly how I ended up in so many bad friendships. I would like to be in a mutually beneficial friendship, but I’m really not sure how they work, and no one I’ve asked about it seems to have had any insight except, you know, “don’t be a dick”-type advice, which is largely general.

What does true love mean to you? >> Love is just behaviour, for me. A way of treating people that shows compassion, appreciation, and interest. I don’t really know any other way to think of it than that.

What's your favorite band/group/singer? >> I don’t know, man, I have a million.

What's your favorite movie? >> The Fountain. Also, Interstellar. Also, Sunshine.

TV show? >> I like a lot of tv shows, I don’t really have any stand-out ones.

What radio station do you listen to most often? >> I don’t listen to radio.

Do you get snow days often where you live? >> Yes, unfortunately.

Do you try to run from things that are bothering you? Does it work? >> I try to distract myself from things that I can’t do anything about, or feelings that aren’t productive. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Can you smell fear? >> I’m guessing not.

Would you ever pet a lion? >> If I had an opportunity and could guarantee not getting eaten, sure.

What's your favorite perfume? What's your favorite cologne? >> I like oils. Like from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

What's your favorite overall smell? >> I don’t have one.

What's your favorite sign? (star, heart, rainbow, skull) >> I’m not sure.

Do you know how to play marbles? >> I didn’t know there was a specific game related to them.

Do you know how to play jacks? >> I do now, but when I had them as a child no one taught me that there was a game you’re supposed to play, so I kinda just fiddled around with them.

Do you know how to play poker? >> I’ve forgotten by now.

Tape or tacks? >> Depends.

Plastic, wood, or wire clothes hangers? >> I prefer wood, but they’re more expensive.

Do you have a light in your closet? >> There’s a light in the main bedroom’s closet.

Do you collect spare change lying around the house? >> No.

Do you like the taste of Tums? >> Not particularly, but it’s not terrible.

How about Pepto Bismol? >> I’ve never tasted it.

Do you have a fast or slow metabolism? >> I don’t know. I’m guessing it’s average.

Do you drink coffee? >> No.

Is the room you are in right now a mess? >> Not really.

When you slip and fall do you laugh it off or freak out? >> I definitely laugh. Especially if it seemed like it probably looked comical to an observer (which a lot of falls really do).

What is your definition of feaking out? >> I don’t know, there’s a lot of ways to freak out.

Have you ever played in a refridgerator box? >> Nope.

Do you still draw with chalk? >> Nah.

Have you ever finger painted? >> I don’t recall having done so, but who knows.

Have you ever had a pie in your face? >> No, thank god.

Ever bobbed for apples? >> No.

Ever hit a piniata? >> No.

Played pin the tail on the donkey? >> No.

Have you ever been on tv/the radio? >> I’ve been on television.

What's your favorite number? >> 9, or 19.

What's your favorite letter? >> V.

What's your favorite color?  >> Gold.

(>0.0)><(0.0<) <- Is that cute to you? >> Sure. Looks like two Kirbys.

What's your favorite onomatopoeia? (Crash, bang, zoom, meow) >> Hmm... zoom is fun.

Have you ever been fishing? Is it really all that much fun? >> I’ve never been. I figure it’s probably more relaxing than fun, but I wouldn’t actually know.

Ever been minurature golfing? >> Yeah.

Are you a tennis geek? >> No.

Computer geek? >> I don’t really consider myself any kind of ‘geek’.

Video game geek? >> ---

Anime geek? >> ---

D&D geek? >> ---

Are you one of those people who watch Naruto? >> “One of those people”, lol. Okay. Anyway, no, I don’t watch it.

Do you agree that even Pokemon is better than naruto? >> I really don’t have an opinion.

Ninjas or dinosaurs? >> Hm.

Do you watch stand up comedy? >> Sometimes.

What's your favorite tv network? >> I don’t know. I don’t usually watch regular television.

Do you have one night that you could play on repeat forever and ever? >> Nah, I’m good.

Is there one dream you wish you could just live through once? >> Any of the ones I’ve had about Idris Elba, lmfao.

Do you think people with a British accent are hot? How about Australian? Irish? >> I’m really attracted to the cadence of some Irish accents. A person still has to be otherwise attractive to me for me to be attracted to them, though; the accent isn’t going to override everything else.

What is your ethnic background? >> As far as I know, Black American, Native American, and Haitian.

Do you eat ramen? >> Sure.

How about microwavable pot pies? >> Not so much anymore, but I do like them.

What's your favorite topping on popcorn? >> I like kettle corn.

Sweet or regular pickles? >> Regular. Every time I think I want a sweet pickle, just one slice is enough.

Have you ever tried pickled eggs? >> No.

What's the grossest thing you've ever tasted? >> Whatever it is, I don’t remember it now.

Have you ever lied about your age? >> No.

Do you look your age? >> Apparently not.

What age do you look? >> According to people I’ve polled in random places over the past few years, I seem to look somewhere between 21 and 27 to most.

What kind of dreams do you have most often? >> I don’t know, anymore.

Do you even dream a lot at all? >> I’m not sure. I don’t remember upon awakening. I guess this is the tradeoff -- I haven’t had sleep paralysis in months, but I also feel really distant from my dreamself now.

What is the name of your favorite teacher of all time? >> ---

What is your mom's name? Dad's? >> ---

Do you have any siblings? If so what are their names?  >> ---

When was the last time you threw up? >> I don’t remember. Probably at Gardella’s like 6 months ago or whenever it was.

What's the worst part about throwing up? >> The anticipation, I guess.

What do you do for personal growth? >> *shrug*

Do you wear jewlery a lot? >> I’m usually wearing it.

Would you rather die burning or die freezing to death? >> I don’t know how either feels, so how could I really choose?

In other words do you prefer the hot or the cold? >> At this point in my life I prefer the heat, even with my sensitivity to it.

Do you really believe that in 2012 we're all gonna die? >> Oh, so that’s how old the survey is.

Where do you think the Mayans went? >> I’m sure there are anthropologists and paleontologists that have some idea about this.

Who do you think built the pyramids? >> The people that lived there at the time...? Is there evidence someone else did? Or just conspiracy theories, as always?

If you could read anyone's mind who would be the first person you'd read? >> No, thanks.

Who's your number one on your friends list? >> ---

Do you know what the word Mollycoddle means? >> Yeah.

Do you think it's cheating to put questions on here that aren't real Qs? >> No, I just delete them.

Have you ever been dizzy without spinning? >> Yeah.

Do you like to make yourself dizzy? >> No.

Do you agree that milk cold is the equivilent of butt warmth? >> What.

Do you believe that if you want something enough you'll get it? >> No, because there still needs to be some effort put in, not just really hard wishing. But I do think that desire can be motivation to put in that effort, so in that sense, sure, yeah.

Have you ever wished on a star? Did it ever come true? >> No.

Have you ever thrown a penny in a wishing well? >> No.

What was your favorite mall ride? (mini carousel, pony, helicopter) >> Hmm.

Do you take care of your cuticles? >> No, I just leave them alone (which is better than young!me, who used to pick at them constantly).

Do you even know what a cuticle is? >> Yeah.

Do you believe that everyone has a soul mate? >> No.

If you could keep any person in the world as your pet who would it be? >> LOL nah, I like my inworld pets best.

How would you treat them? >> How I’d treat a pet would be determined by both their desires and their limits, and my energy level lol.

Would you put them on a leash when you went out? >> No, because I think that’s kind of... uncouth. Doing that sort of thing in public, I mean. There are plenty of discreet ways to be kinky without having to like... advertise it like that.

How would you punish them when they were naughty? >> That depends on what was agreed upon.

Are these inappropriote questions? >> For many people, they certainly would be. I just happen to not care.

I'm sorry. Have you ever seen Scary Movie? >> I’ve seen #3, but that’s it.

Which is bigger? The Godfather or Star Wars? >> Er...

What are your views on the second Godfather movie? >> ---

It sucked I think. Anyway are you inbred? >> Well, no.

What's your favorite text word? (lol, wtf, brb, g2g) >> I don’t know.

PC or Mac? >> I use PC.

[ronak-kamat]

Some years ago, while presenting Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish (1983) at the Austin Film Society, Filmmaker Richard Linklater made an interesting point. If you look at the 1970s, you will realise that NO BODY has had a decade like Francis Ford Coppola. Let’s go through his masterpieces as they were released:

The Godfather (1972)

The Conversation (1974) 

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Apocalypse Now (1979) 

  Each of these movies will feature in most of the ‘Greatest movies of all time’ lists. Each of them are exceptional masterpieces that no other filmmaker could make. Personally, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now feature on my own Top 5 favourite films of all time. Recently, I happened to re-watch Apocalypse Now on the theatrical screen and thought it would be a great time to write about the film. I have previously watched both versions of the film. This recent screening however, was of the original version, not the near 3.5 hour long redux version (which I admire just as much).

Chaos before the mayhem 

The visually stunning and brilliantly edited opening sequence immediately demands your attention and sucks you into Coppola’s mayhem filled World. ‘The End’ by ‘The Doors’ kicks in. We see absolute havoc in front of our eyes. Havoc presented in the most aesthetically superior and artistically incomparable way.

Martin Sheen’s voice breaks in. His monologue is so crisp and well worded it goes up and down your spine. You barely spend a few minutes with Sheen in his claustrophobic room and you are already drawn into his mind. You don’t know him but you know what’s troubling him. His brief about himself and his situation is put forth in a manner that isn’t purposefully concise but rather purposefully decisive enough to not give any attention to “small talk”. He is speaking TO you and he wants some gaps to be left for your mind to fill in. Coppola and Sheen almost create an impression of Willard being an animal in the desperate need of going back to it’s environment. An environment where a sudden death is almost a promise. It is that promises that lingers on your horizon before each one of your moves. It is that promises that can “terminate your command” at any given point. It is that promise that Willard misses. He wants to go back. He needs to go back.

The scene with Harrison Ford’s character Colonel Lucas, the General and Jerry is just as powerful and assertive as ambiguous and notoriously misleading. The gaps, they continue to remain. Willard is being sent on a death mission. A mission has to carry with “extreme prejudice” but he is provided with inflated and almost inconsistent reasoning. So much so that the General waits for Willard to “agree” to his statements calling Kurtz “insane”. Willard wants the mission for his own reasons but it seems to us that this ambiguity excites him. It drives him.

Bill Kilgore and the game of war 

The entire Duvall sequence to me seems like an expression of the casual and game-like nature to the work of some of those in command. Whether or not this is a comment on America, depends on your interpretation of it. Kilgore, as much as I hate to use this statement, enjoys every bit of his killing spree. He talks about surfing with great enthusiasm but that reference subtly hints at how he tries to use his passion for sport, in warfare. Each time I watched Apocalypse Now, the Duvall sequence always stood out for me. Sometimes, it almost feels like a different movie. Many of the segments in the film feel like separate films. Kilgore is fucking insane and Coppola wanted to present this insanity and use that to represent the American thought behind the battle, you could say.

Duvall kicks on the music player just before going even more insane inside the helicopter. His crew are psyched by this madness. You wonder how Tarantino takes “the emotion and attitude” from movies he loves, you will find it easily if you know where to look. Wondering what I am talking about? Let’s consider Michael Madsen’s ‘Mr. Blonde’ in Reservoir Dogs. He plays ‘stuck in the middle with you‘ and cuts off a man’s ear. Kilgore plays operatic music and goes on killing people like a madman. Genre cinema at it’s very greatest and historic best. It really brings up the question…”If you want to create a strong genre piece and put out a message just as strong, how do you go about it?” Well, ask Francis Coppola. That’s what he was doing here. Using every frame.

Kilgore sequence lasts quite a while. During this time, Willard doesn’t speak too much. Even by his own standards. The entire sequence can be questioned in terms of it’s involvement in Willard’s actual mission. Which is exactly the point. Coppola made a movie of abstractions. A war film with abstractions. Who would take such a risk? Take a look at most of the war movies and you will notice that the biggest “action moments” that usually involve large scale destruction are integral to the film’s “plot”. This isn’t the case with Apocalypse Now. To begin with, the film doesn’t even have a plot. It’s a story. It flows from point to point. It’s a journey. It’s a real movie. As real as a film can get. As genuine as a journey movie can be. “He set out from here…at this place he met HIM and then THIS is what happened. Coppola doesn’t chop it up to make it concise. He doesn’t care about that. Every part of what Willard “sees” during his mission, shapes him further. Why would you “just keep things that are in direct correlation something called a plot?” That would be formulaic and completely antithetical to Coppola’s efforts with the movie.

You know he is near 

Sometimes I ask myself about the absurdities in the movie. I don’t know why but I relate to those “holes in reasoning”. I feel like these holes exist in political philosophies, the more you try to read into any of them. No political thought can exist without contradictions. The entire thought behind Apocalypse Now is a contradiction. Willard is on his way to kill somebody who has “gone insane” and whose methods are “unsound”. Someone who is also an American. What would the General say about Kilgore, then? The man killed for fun. While gunning down a woman with a grenade he mouthed, “savages” when all the while he was murdering large numbers of people, livestock, destroying everything around him as though it were a game. Hypocrisy right there. So, what is insanity according to these men in uniforms? Who does it apply to? What methods are “unsound”? If killing two double agents is “unsound” and applying Kilgore’s methods of mass murder is the viable thing to do, it begs the question, what are we really talking about?

Questions. Questions. More questions.

That’s what the movie does. It does not make ONE STATEMENT that was a common factor in many war movies. Side A vs Side B. This is what A is fighting for and this is what B is fighting for. Let the battle begin. Is war really that simple? Or is this type of filmmaking a way of “using war” to create large scale, breathtaking visuals? Francis Coppola asks the real questions with this movie. He “sends things up”. It’s like a journey through various abstractions and absurdities. Willard gets drawn into Kurtz’s World with every word he reads about him. To us, it is made to feel as though Kurtz was always around. Since the film began. We can feel him around us. Personally, I find Martin Sheen’s monologue in Apocalypse Now on par with Robert De Niro’s in Taxi Driver. Both these historic monologues represent two different bands on a spectrum of abstract emotions. While watching Coppola’s movie again recently, the monologue hit me much harder than before. Each word is so crisp. At some points you feel as though Sheen is whispering to you. It feels like a war movie that is so goddamn personal that it may actually be more about belief systems than anything else.

Stepping into hell

As Willard and what remains of his crew, enter Kurtz’s “kingdom”, the visuals are gorgeously horrific. The background score tenses up. You tighten yourself in the seat. You are glued. His “army” moves apart, allowing Willard’s boat to tear through them. It is like a visual from hell. You have heard about this World. The World belonging to Colonel Kurtz. You may have imagined it in your own way and this is the moment that defies all of that. Maybe that’s because the journey is such that you are sailing “in the same boat” as Willard and his crew. You don’t know WHAT you will come across. Will Willard even reach there? Will he reach there alive? What will he see when he gets there? What will stop Kurtz’s army from simply killing him?

One of my favourite visuals from the film is that of a very much drugged Lance dancing in a freakish way as the boat gradually tears through the mist and enters the World of Kurtz.

Sometimes I cannot believe what a big risk a project like this is. For a filmmaker to take on so much responsibility, to make a film that’s a bloody monster, to shoot for over a year or more, take on everybody even though you have made incredible landmark movies not too long ago and to finally end it the way Coppola decided to, it’s almost too much to be true. The build up to the encounter with Kurtz feels like a journey through someone’s life. You breathe it in as you go along in that boat. But then, the entire finale is filled with absurd political thoughts and ideas “sent up” which makes you think, maybe there was no other way of going about this. A typical situation would have a battle scene of some sort with very clearly defined “good guys” and “bad guys” so the audience knows exactly what to feel. But Apocalypse Now doesn’t care about any of that. You go through the entire journey to come into “the moment”, for what? An exchange of ideas and thoughts. A real conversation between two “soldiers”. What are their beliefs and what affects them? The unanswered questions are important to the “story” because, as I’ve said before, there is no “plot”.

The movie, in some sense, is about the philosophy behind a war. There is something about this entire sequence that makes it feel like it’s a notch above reality. It is like a poetic look at the minds of those involved in battle. Marlon Brando’s presence is larger than life. He speaks, he asks, he reads, we listen attentively. There is something so sacred about the ending of Apocalypse Now that I can never “just watch the ending”. I feel like it is important to live the whole journey, again, before coming up to this point. Each time, I walk away with something different but each time, I am elevated to a different zone that only this movie can take me to.

Also, throughout the film there is a sense of chaos. Helicopters flying around, people being shot, bombs exploding, trees blazing up, civilians running all around. There is mayhem. But Coppola suddenly brings in a sense of rhythm and calm as soon as we enter Kurtz’s World. How could it be possible that the very person Willard is supposed to kill on account of his “insanity”, holds a kingdom of people in a peculiar state of calm? What is being said through this?

Francis Ford Coppola and the curse of a legendary decade 

To make a movie on this scale, in the 1970s and still keep so many aspects ambiguous, remains one of the most brave decisions in the history of cinema. In a way, Francis Coppola’s 70s became so large, his movies after that were never treated with the respect they deserved. The decade I wrote about at the beginning of this piece, was so humungous in terms of it’s artistic and cinematic value that Coppola had to live his life trying to play catch. I personally like most of what I have watched from Coppola’s films after the 70s. Rumble Fish is such a beautiful film. The Rainmaker as well. Coppola made many great movies after the 70s but he will be remembered only for the ones he made IN the 70s and Apocalypse Now ended that legendary decade for him.

People expected the movie to be a colossal failure. The media wrote about it being a disaster even before the movie was even out. News from the shooting in Vietnam crept into the American newspapers and Coppola was painted as this dark figure who would risk finance and personnel for his own greed. He proved them all wrong.  Apocalypse Now was a huge theatrical hit. It is said that Francis Coppola expected Apocalypse Now to be a flop. He hence decided to make One From the Heart. Ironically, Apocalypse Now was remarkably successful and One from the Heart turned out to be a flop and if what I hear is correct, it even bankrupted him. It is indeed a very sad tale. Few filmmakers can be considered to be on par with Francis Ford Coppola. Few filmmakers out there can claim that his movies haven’t influenced them in any way.

Filmmakers rarely embrace the mysteries that surround their subjects of movie making. Francis Coppola tackled it head on with Apocalypse Now. You wouldn’t blame him for holding back on trying to make a film on this scale, philosophical. But he did it nonetheless. He did it because he wanted to raise questions with the film. He wanted to send something up. He wanted political ideas to be exchanged and he wanted his characters to make cumulative choices. Not choose between black or white.

Apocalypse Now remains one of the Greatest movies ever made.

      Remembering a masterpiece: Apocalypse Now Some years ago, while presenting Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish (1983) at the Austin Film Society, Filmmaker Richard Linklater made an interesting point.