Just saw the film. Very arthouse style but it really confuses me and makes me seem dumber for not getting evry hidden message. I can see how America viewed the Vietnam War as so surreal now though-I mean taking over an entire village just to go surfing!!!!
It is a strange film, very confusing but very interesting. I must admit I prefer Platoon, mainly because of the colours (ok, this may sound strange but AN is all very brown, red, yellow and so on whilst Platoon is green and black, for some reason I dont tend like films that are at the red end of the spectrum as much as those at the other :s )
Exactly Stefan. I love all the war movies that have all that colour drained. It adds a visual factor to it that creates a certain realism and makes it easier on the eyes.
I agree about the color. I have only seen AN one time, it is very confusing. I guess it takes watching it more than once.
And there was me thinking I was weird, I must say I am a great fan of black and white war movies, colour can sometimes detract from the rest of the film.
Sorry to say--I watched it once and absolutely hated it. This war movie has the distinction of being the VERY first war movie I ever hated. Its message is VERY anti-govt and VERY anti-war. The only scene I liked in the movie was when the Helos were flying and they played the "Charge of the Valkerie?" One of the most dumb lines I ever heard in any movie was: " I love the smell of Napalm in the morning." [ 26. June 2003, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]
Carl, I think that was the point of the film, to be anti government and anti war. Then again the same can be said of most Vietnam films, or at least of the 'top three'. I agree that the burning napalm thing is just stupid though.
I don't know if it really was meant to be totally an anti movie but--tell you the rest of the story--I was just plain bored with the film and I do not now and did not then--like that they also portrayed every G.I as a drug smoking insane person.
Me, I merely liked the "old" AN but only saw it on video years ago. Went and saw AN:Redux at the cinema when it came out, and it blew me away. Don't know if I was too young to enjoy it last time around, but now I found it absolutely brilliant. The way I see it, it's not so much a movie "about war". Like all GOOD movies involving war it stays more or less focused on the people caught in the war rather than the war itself. In this case being on a journey deeper into the jungle and, ahem, the darkness of the human heart...
Very good anti war movie. Very much symbolism in it, a classic. Call me an old PC bone, I just prefer anti-war war movies more than pro-war superhero crap (John Wayne, Nazi propaganda movies, Rambo and Chuck Norris re-winning the Vietnam war on their own etc.). Very boring, if not outright ridicilous (to my taste). Cheers,
I saw a documentary on the making of the film once and they said the storyline was based on the book HEART OF DARKNESS. Also said that helo gunships were armed with live rounds and that during filming they were sometimes called away off set to participate in the actual civil war that was raging in the Phillipines? I want to say.
I agree with Andy about liking Anti-war movies better. The reason is because they show you the reality of and they portray characters as real pople. Which pro war films don't seem to do. Wilconqr the Hueys used in the film were called off to fight in the insurgency. I know this because my uncle piloted one.
I have to agree, except for the bit about war movies that focus on the people, I feel that a lot of war movies take this too far, trying to get you to like the soldiers by making them rather 'special'. What I mean is that I do not like movies that portray the 'good' soldiers as wonderful men who help kiddys and so on just to build your sympathy for when they die. The thing about anti-war movies is that they tend to go further to make things look unpleasant. The way ahead for example, it makes the war look like a very friendly affair from the British side led by gentlemen who fought bravely and never died. Stalingrad on the other side presents war as a sordid argument between great powers in which ordinary people get caught up. Rather than presenting the soldiers as John Wayne style heroes, they are real people, who can be do the most terrible things one day and be good people the next. I think that is where anti-war movies have the edge, they do not shy away from the nature of ordianry people. As for AN, I think it was intended more as a philosophical piece than a war film, it is an exploration of the way people work and as such it is rather successful. How about other 'Nam movies, what do you guys think of Platoon and FMJ?
Oh I too agree with Andy on liking anti-war movies--Hell Is For Heroes, Kellys Heroes, Cross of Iron are all considered anti-war movies and all of these are excellent movies--I just flat out hated Apoc/ Now. Also--I fully agree with you on the Missing in Action movies and the Rambo movies--all were stupid but--I admit--I liked the first movie from each series.
The first MIA is okay, but after that it get's lame. Platoon was pretty good , but for some reason I've never saw FMJ
