Jarring piece of cinema history

Rating: 10/10 (28 July 2002)

No movie will ever come out like this one. Try as they might, they will never manage to reproduce the way this film feels, looks, sound and even tastes. Because filming during 16 months (that's almost a year and a half) in the Phillipines, during a war in that country, with a director on the verge of suicide and actors on the verge of breakdown will never again be tried by any sensible production company. A pity then, that we won't get another shot at something like this, but that's what makes this movie so unique. This is the ultimate example of how from chaos comes perfection. Everything about it is absolutely spectacular, and strangely crafted, considering the production conditions, which makes us think about what was the academy thinking about when they acclaimed "Kramer vs. Kramer" against this colossal masterpiece, only granting it two oscars. The redux version is one step further into this world and even if you only saw the film once with some attention, you will understand where are the new features, and their major roles here. Made in an era where there was no CGI, your jaw will drop in some shots, where more than 20 helicopters pass in front of the camera lenses, while a tank destroys a hut by the river, with thousands of extras running by. This was the ultimate challenge to the human resistance, and at one point in the movie, we no longer feel that it's only a movie. Its rawness comes like a near-documentary. Like Coppola himself said "It's not a movie about Vietnam. It's Vietnam itself". No doubt, it's the best war movie ever made, and one of the best movies ever.