8/9/2019 Apocalypse Now- The Afterlife in 70s Vietnam

1/3

Apocalypse Now:The Afterlife in 70s Vietnam

I had never watched Apocalypse Now before, but because manyteachers often referenced it in their lectures, I decided to get it o myto watch list. It was a good experience. ven though I!m not a bigfan of war movies, I was ama"ed by the amount of depth found inthis movie. No wonder it is considered one of the best movies of alltime. #ere are some interesting image systems I found$

- Afterlife.% Apocalypse Now is a mythical movie. &e can consider the river asa road, and all what happens as episodes. 'he entire movie is (lledwith images of (re, explosions and smo)e. *ince the openingse+uence we experience the horrors of war. ut -oppola doesn!t want

us to feel. sing 'he /oor!s 'his is the end as a rechtiandistancing eect, the point is to ma)e us thin) about the imageswe!re watching.% In the (rst act of the movie, when the helicopters are stri)ing thepopulation, we hear &agner!s 0ide of the 1al)yries. A 1al)yrie2meaning$ chooser of the slain3 is a female (gure in Norse4ythology who decides who will die in battle. 1ery appropriate formusic which is supposed to cause fear to the 1ietnamese5% 4any references to water. 6or example, when one of &illard!s crewdies they leave his body at the river, but the way they shot this

resembles a baptism. 4ore speci(cally, the way 7ohn the aptistwould do it.% &e see a lot of crosses, especially near the end. #uman s)ulls too2memento mori3.% &hen they reach 8urt!s area the river is so full of smo)e it resemblesthe *tyx 0iver, the river of the underworld. 'his is very interestingbecause the place literally loo)s 9I8 #99. It is a place full ofdar)ness, random explosions and gunshots everywhere, chaos allaround them. ven the music is distorted.% *mo)e also appears a lot during the movie. ut interestingly,besides giving us an otherworldly loo), I noticed 8urt" smo)es in his

scenes. &e see smo)e coming out of his mouth when he!s giving thisphilosophical speeches. /oes it mean this hell is literally created byhuman beings as him: It would certainly be interesting;% 8urt!" place is also full of statues. 9iterally loo)s li)e the temple of agod 2let!s not forget 8urt" himself supposedly tells his followers he is agod3. And 8urt" also loo)s li)e a mon) or spiritual guide.% 'he song 'his is the nd by 'he /oors also ends the movie. utbecause the movie began with this same song, is it implying that warwill continue going on forever:% 'he movie uses a lot of dissolves. 'o me, this could be interpreted asvery dreamli)e. 'he frontiers between reality disappear a little.

8/9/2019 Apocalypse Now- The Afterlife in 70s Vietnam

2/3

- Self.% 'his

8/9/2019 Apocalypse Now- The Afterlife in 70s Vietnam

3/3

dissect great (lms li)e this one in the future, to )now what imagesystems the great directors use in their (lms; and learn from them.