Smells Like Victory

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2007)

"Apocolypse Now" is more of a piece of art than a movie. The cinematography, acting, directing, score and screenplay work together as a whole better than any movie has ever done. As a period piece it is widely compared to "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket" as to which movie more accurately depicts the Vietnam war. I have heard by many in my family who fought in Vietnam that "Platoon" does better at showing the experience of everyday life in Vietnam but that "Apocolypse Now" hands down displays the truest feelings of despair, hopelessness and loss that took place in Vietnam. Loss as in the loss of one's self.
Throughout the whole movie there is a constant elusive reality that the characters in the movie loose more and more as they travel up the river. The movie is so thought provoking and psychedelic that it entrances you and begs you to watch it. And what Brando does in this film is nothing less than perfect. Marlon Brando accomplished displaying sanity within insanity and makes every viewer of movie question what truth and power really are.
To watch Duvall stand in the middle of a battlefield affixed in a mechanic yet vulnerable state is quite an experience to witness and probably one of the greatest scenes in cinematic history. Not to mention, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed for twelve strait hours. When it was all over I walked up and we didn't find a one of 'em. Not one stinking dink body. But that smell, you know that gasoline smell-the whole hill smelled like...victory."
Coppola takes one scene and morphs it into the other so smoothly that when the movie ends you finally realize that it is just a movie. I have never seen a movie more impactive. It was one of the very first movies I ever watched and it set a very high standard of what I consider true movie making. A true movie experience that takes you to another world.