Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now was the film that was the closet to depicting the Vietnam War. That is probably why the film won Palme d’Or at Cannes and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture. The film sought to show Americans just how gruesome and violent the war was. It gave us an opportunity to put ourselves in the shoes of the men that fought in the war also. Still the film could only show so much and wasn’t nearly as gruesome as the actually war.

It is sad to say that most Americans don’t know much about the Vietnam War. I myself don’t know too much about the war as well. Watching the film brought out many emotions. Some scenes such as the scene where the commander officer tells his men to surf in the water during a battle were just ridiculous. Other scenes such as the ending scene where the chief is killed at the same time a cow is being sacrificed were just gruesome. It made me feel sad for the men who had to be a part of that.  I could only imagine how life was forever different to them since they say that war changes the way you think and act on things.

The film made me realize how cruel the government can be and how much they use their own people. We had no business fighting that war but still 58,000 American troops lost their lives for the President’s selfish wants. It’s the same thing with the war we are fighting against Iraq. It makes me not want to ever join the army. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that some of these prideful people who are willing to die for this country are dying for no reason.

    All The President’s Men

This week’s movie, “All the President’s Men” was ridiculous to me. I couldn’t believe that what happened in the film actually happened in real life. How could someone of high power hire some buffoons to do a bad job on something so scandalous? Especially since two of the men were from the C.I.A and it really wasn’t necessary to have five men work on one mission. Although we all knew the outcome of the film, I thought the film was pretty good. It was interesting to see how the two young reporters got all their information against members of the White House. 

I would agree with the reading that “All the President’s Men” was a paranoia film. Remember during the time, people started to mistrust the government. America didn’t fear foreigners as much anymore, they more so feared their own kind. Wives started to mistrust their husbands and the whole Ideal American family went out the door.  People started to do their own thing.  In the film, people immediately began to question why the men tried to steal the files.  Even while working on the case, the two reporters started to become paranoid themselves thinking that maybe the government would hire someone to kill them. Also, I myself started to become paranoid, thinking that the reporters would run into trouble.

The film also showed the rise of media.  As seen in the film, reporters started to play detective. Everyone wanted to be the first to dish the dirt. Lives of celebrities and important figures were exposed to the public. Scandals were main headlines and were portrayed in books and films. Through the years this has become more and more common. Now we have the paparazzi, they basically make a living off of following famous people. They dish their dirt out to internet websites and television shows designed to let viewers know what’s going on kind of like the entertainment version of the news.  For an example, 9/11 was a huge tragedy but it inspired two films and some books/documentaries.