Apocalypse Now (1979) – A DVD Movie Review

Apocalypse Now (1979) – A DVD Movie Review

Vote Now for the Greatest Vietnam War Movie

When Saving Private Ryan was released, many touted it as the best war movie ever made. Although the first thirty minutes were gut wrenching, the rest of the film was typical post-E.T. Spielbergian emotional manipulation. You can’t award a film the title of “best war movie ever made” based solely on the first thirty minutes.

A better contender for the title, I think, is Apocalypse Now. I watched it, truthfully, because I’d never seen it and I thought I should. It’s like reading War and Peace: Nobody likes it, even if they appreciate it, but they read it because they should. Plus, Apocalypse Now was a big part of the “Buffy” season finale. I hate not being in on the pop-culture references.

There are some movies to which the question “Did you like it?” just doesn’t apply. Accordingly, this review has nothing to do with like or dislike. Apocalypse Now blew me away. Plain and simple. The sheer force of its brilliance (if I may wax purple) was staggering. Seriously.

Based loosely on Josef Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now follows the journey of Captain Ben Willard through Vietnam during the “conflict.” He’s been assigned by the higher-ups to, ahem, neutralize “with extreme prejudice” the threat posed by a Colonel gone native. Col. Kurtz has apparently taken this war into his own hands and isn’t fighting it Uncle Sam’s way.

The movie is almost dreamlike in its horror (the unmasking and exploration of “the horror” being its overriding theme). Lt. Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall) embarks on the bloody infiltration of an enemy-held beach because he wants to surf the break. Scene after scene builds the overarching dehumanization of the war, putting the audience on edge. When a puppy suddenly landed in the middle of things, I thought I was going to have to turn the movie off. That puppy scared me more than anything else. The possibilities of what would happen to it. Shudder to think.