The Vietnam War changed the lives of Americans, and the rest of the world in a manner which had never been witnessed before. Never had the US people suffered a loss of this magnitude, the living, breathing, world superpower had begun to reveal its scars. This event created a new style of war film, the kind of film that had a character utterly unique to anything before or post of the conflict. Vietnam War films stand alone in their time due to their detailed attention to creating nostalgia through music, art, and the counterculture movement. A genuine sub-genre of the Hollywood war film.
3. The Deer Hunter (1978) Dir. Michael Cimino
The Deer Hunter was the first Vietnam War Film since
the deeply flawed Green Berets (1968) to create widespread commercial
success and a cultural upheaval to come with it. The Deer Hunter examined
the impact that the war had on the ‘normal’ people from the small American towns
that received the worst of the fighting, in one of America’s most regretful conflicts.
Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage) and Nicky (Christopher Walken) are
3 friends who spend their time working hard, drinking alcohol and hunting deer.
This will all change as they are enlisted to go and fight in the Vietnam war. After
the horrors of war, Michael returns home to find Steven mentally and physically
handicapped, and Nicky lost in Vietnam’s underground Russian roulette circuit. Michael
must return to Vietnam on a rescue mission to save Nicky before he is completely
lost in the Saigon jungle.
With one of the most recognisable and iconic scores, it is an
arthouse blockbuster that is rightfully considered a classic of American Cinema.
Everything about The Deer Hunter feels top tier. When you strip
everything away from the film, the war, the bloodshed, and the tragedy, at it’s
heart it displays the overpowering vulnerability of life. How life can be taken
away and broken in a moments notice, how some people break, and some people
thrive, The Deer Hunter shows human life in its most defenceless form. Each
of the characters take their own paths and it is fascinating to see. Steven completely
cracks both mentally and physically, Nicky loses sight of the real world and
most interestingly, Michael grows to a level of authority and strength unimaginable
before his enlistment.
When released in 1978 The Deer Hunter was not simply received
as a movie, but an essential cultural event, as a rational statement on war,
however right or wrong it was about the conflict. Michael Cimino, like many other
filmmakers saw an opportunity in the market. The prospect for high revenue and
an increase in reputation, but a clear chance to delve into the true problems
that made the Vietnam war such a doomed conflict. The filmmaker is able to create
a serious emotional connection to the American people. A realisation of the
truth in Vietnam that would shape the crisis of masculinity that spilled into
the 1980’s. Veterans were discouraged and shamed by the civilians, and film had
an important role to play in displaying the stereotypical Vietnam veteran as
the drunk, drug fuelled, mentally ill ‘fool’. The Deer Hunter was the
beginning of all of this.
Though some take issues with the length of The Deer
Hunter, and its running time of 3 hours 3 minutes, I actually feel like the
care and consideration taken to establish our characters were key in coming to
terms with the films devastating climactic outcomes. The Deer Hunter has
been criticised in the past for its negative approach to the conflict. Nevertheless,
it has been so critically acclaimed due to the fact that it was able to
effectively shed light on a war that had ashamed, demasculinised and devastated
a wide population of men, almost acting as a chance for people to accept the
result and begin moving on with their lives.
2. Apocalypse Now (1979) Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola’s war epic is generally considered by
critics and fans alike as the quintessential Vietnam war film. A deep, colourful
analysis of a completely unique conflict, probably the most exceptional
representation of guerrilla warfare ever seen before. Apocalypse Now
documents the journey of an experienced army officer - Captain Willard (Martin
Sheen) as he sets out on a dangerous mission to assassinate the renegade colonel
Kurtz who has gone AWOL and earnt the trust of a Cambodian tribe as a demi-god
figure. In a drunken and unruly state, Willard must lead a young and
inexperienced team down the Nyung River as he confronts the same horrors and deceit
that forced the once sane Colonel Kurtz over the edge into a chasm of psychosis.
Willard does not only witness the primitive violence and natural danger of the
south Asian jungle, he must also come to terms with the inner demons that
plague his own mind and heart.
Apocalypse Now was the first Vietnam War film to openly align itself with the counterculture movement through its choice of popular music woven into the score. Music from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane and The Doors dominate throughout as the ‘Anti-War’ music provides the undertones of a doomed war effort. No longer were the Americans portrayed in a heroic, triumphant light. They were simply embroiled in a war impossible to win from the very beginning. Nevertheless, Coppola himself even admitted that no film about war can be completely against war as a concept overall. By simply making a war film you are admiring the danger and excitement that war brings to the party, it is then up to you how your message is received.
Apocalypse Now does a fantastic job in exhibiting the absurdity of war, something that Willard is experiencing as he slowly uncovers the reasons behind Kurtz’ road map into insanity. The whole movie is a journey in a literal and theoretical sense as the boat travels down the river towards Willard's comprehension of how Kurtz, began to understand the true reality of war to an extent that he could not live in the ‘normal’ world knowing what he knows now. Kurtz has reached a level of realisation and wokeness about life, war, and nature that many are too innocent to even acknowledge. This realisation that all of our lives are merely passing by as nature slowly closes in to claim what is rightfully theirs. A ‘happy’ life is a life that is unknowing of this kind of knowledge.
Coppola deserves
huge recognition for creating a war film that has all of the characteristics of
a film about much more than just war. While the famous line “I love the smell
of napalm in the morning” helps us understand why the complacency and blind faith
within the American side only reinforced the fact that it was a war destined
for defeat. Apocalypse Now offers a brilliant reflection into Captain
Willard’s exhaustive expedition into the human mind. In principle, a hallucinogenic
voyage into a world so detached from our own, a chance to live another life for
2 hours and 27 minutes.
1. Platoon (1986) Dir. Oliver Stone
Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Cimino had both made
attempts at creating politically driven Vietnam war pieces in The Deer
Hunter and Apocalypse Now respectively. But neither were as
strikingly true and shocking as Platoon’s realistic reflections of American
society during the Vietnam era. Platoon starts with Chris Taylor
(Charlie Sheen) as he narrates the captivating story of a young student
enlisted into the Vietnam war. Taylor, thrown immediately into battle, joins
his platoon on a tour of duty in the middle of the night. The structure of the
film allows both the audience and Taylor to gradually learn the truth of the
struggle, while unearthing issues about themselves. The opening night you begin
to understand the two sergeants. Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger) an uncompromising,
callous leader and his inverse figure: Sgt Elias (Willem Dafoe) an experienced
and honest Sergeant whose temperament conflicts with Barnes throughout as the troops
lose sight of the real enemy.
Platoon was the first truly authentic Vietnam War film. Oliver Stone drew on his own experiences of Vietnam to represent the true landscape of people affected by war. Not only the vast amounts of African Americans ignored by the war, but the inhumane and faceless approach to portraying the Vietnamese people in war films before Platoon. Platoon shows empathy and a personality to the Vietnamese people, highlighting their own individualities and innocence. Stone uses racial tension throughout as an undercurrent to the building tension between the platoon’s fiercely different leaders. Barnes sees the African American soldiers as inferior to him and therefore leaves them to the command of the more liberal minded and inclusive Elias. This inclusion takes a true physical form in the evening scenes where the platoon is socialising, the first indication of a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ group within the platoon.
In the Sixties, a black male would often be considered twice as impoverished as a white male, hence the movies of the Vietnam struggle were obliged to reveal genuine historical context and embody the subgroups and ethnic minorities to their exact historical picture. Platoon was remarkably notable in signifying this truth, mostly due to Oliver Stone having a first-hand experience to draw on. The equivalent could not be considered for the earliest film on Vietnam – The Green Berets (1968) no further than the sporadic black soldier seen, which was positioned for variety. No black character was seen to have a leading role either. Platoon did not only have key characters who represented an African American backdrop but approximately half of the members of the platoon falls into the ethnic minority groups. This could not be a stronger symbol in explaining the conflicts and racial separation in various regions of America, prior to, throughout and following the Vietnam war that has tormented America’s integrity for vast amounts of time.
Platoon’s striking use of Motown and anti-war music
anchors the counterculture themes of the film. Tracks of my tears, White
Rabbit and Hello, I love you by The Doors, Smoky Robinson and the
miracles and Jefferson Airplane respectively all openly aligned
their music with the anti-war movement. Oliver Stone utilises their music in
scenes with Elias and his liberal faction of the platoon to drive home not only
a clear split into the ideology of the group, but once again signifying an
obvious ‘good’ and ‘evil’. The Vietnam era opened a new style or sub-genre of
the Hollywood War film, the soundtrack of Platoon utilised a score that
featured the sounds of real America which is in line with its realistic
approach of creating a truthful account of Vietnam. Something that Reagan
fought to suppress.
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