Apocalypse Now (1979, USA)

Finally I managed to see this movie. But by this time the context was halfway lost on me. I know that it was very controversial when it came out. Furthermore I have seen the documentary on it made by the director’s wife. Nevertheless it didn’t touch me as much as I thought it would. Sure it was depressing and horrifying. Sure, I will remember for the rest of my life how Marlon Brando said “the horror, the horror”. I have a feeling that had I read the novel first the impact would have been larger. I would have “gotten” this movie to a deeper level. I watched the first half of it with friends who are a few years older than I am. They pointed out the “additions” on this director’s cut, “redux” version, but I had no real reference point how these changed modified the movie overall. (I saw the second half alone and could barely fall asleep after that.) Because we saw and talked about the documentary on a film class I noticed the cutting, the images, mise-en-scene. I am happy that I filled this whole in my movie-buff life. At least I will recognize in other movies and in real life references to it. But I don’t think I would wan to watch it again. Not until I had a chance to read the book.