Apocalypse Now (1979 film) = Finished
Added 2018-12-17 00:41:31 +0000 UTCYou can't tell the difference between the blood and the sweat any more.
They both shine on Willard's skin as he emerges from the lair of Kurtz. They dazzle in the light like gemstones, and raise themselves, ever present, even against the shadow. There's no juxtaposition or contrast there, anymore. Just compromise. Just pain. Just liquid.
For the first hour and a half, I thought Apocalypse Now would be another movie that made an (incredibly good) study of contrasts. Juxtaposing the innocence of a puppy with cold-blooded, paranoia driven murder on a quiet stretch of river. Cynical USO promoters bringing Playboy Playmates to the front lines, and beating away the impassioned, uninhibited soldiers as Vietnamese citizens quietly watch the excess through chainlink fence at the edge of the stage. Beauty and horror existed alongside each other on an utterly disgusting, human scale, in an unpredictable conflict built on appearances.
That idea started to fall away pretty quickly though, and once it did, it never came back.
The movie screams its message through every element--the voiceover, the cinematography, the use of color, the lighting...I had to set aside my expectations. I had to set aside the idea that I knew what was happening, or what was being done, or what was being said.
There are moments in this movie that take your breath away with their beauty. Some of these moments are absolutely horrific in their subject matter. That is, in fact, the point of Apocalpyse Now.
The contrast says that...there is no contrast.
The beauty and the horror are the same.
They congeal into a solid, oppressive mass.
Blood and sweat, just more liquids on a damned man's skin.
All that's left--all you can do--is to get the hell out.
