Quick recap: During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a top secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, who has gone insane.

also considered to be a fine surfing film

Fun(?) fact: The making of Apocalypse Now is so interesting that there is a documentary about it called ‘Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse’,so I’ll save the good trivia for when I watch it. However, one of the most interesting aspects of this film is how much of it is ad-libbed or improvised altogether, such as the beginning scene with Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando’s speech as Colonel Kurtz.

My thoughts: I give up. After having been proven wrong time and time again, I can no longer say I dislike war movies. Just as ‘foreign’ is not much of a genre, neither is ‘war’. Maybe I’m still not big on WWII era films (I’m sure I’ll be proven wrong soon), but Vietnam era films will always be a source of fascination with me.

Apocalypse Now is great for so many reasons- the acting, the soundtrack, the cinematography, everything. I was hooked from the first scene and felt a little disappointed when it was over because I could’ve watched it for several hours. I especially loved the mounting apprehension as the crew came closer to their encounter with Kurtz. And then actually finding Kurtz was every bit as evil and creepy as I had imagined it would be. As insane as he was, his fortress or compound or whatever it was called practically screamed, ‘This is what war really is’.

Which leads me back to the beginning where I admit that I don’t hate war movies. I don’t enjoy the killing and technical talk, but I do love a movie with a deeper meaning. Like most high schoolers I was forced to read ‘Heart of Darkness’, which this movie is based on. I remember hating it, not because it was hard to read (it wasn’t), but because I couldn’t identify with it. In fact, the only thing I remember from that whole book is the phrase ‘British Imperialism’, which I am too lazy to find out if that was the meaning or not. But Apocalypse Now totally means something to me, that as pithy as it sounds- war is hell. I loved the exploration of sanity and how someone could go so far away and yet still make logical sense in the context of war. War makes everyone a little insane and it changes you. As Captain Willard said at the beginning, ‘When I was here, I wanted to be there’ when I was there, all I could think about was getting back to the jungle’.

Final review: 5/5. Because of course.

Up next: Wild Reeds

Quick recap: Maciek Chelmicki is a Polish assassin who has never had any problem killing anyone. No problem that is, until he falls in love.

He’s more James Dean than James Dean was

Fun (?) fact: One of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films. He showed it to Leonardo DiCaprio while filming The Departed so that DiCaprio would see another character with the same struggles that he had.

My thoughts: I’ve never been a big ‘war movie’ kind of person, especially not the ones centered around World War II,  because there are SO many out there already. My opinion has started to shift a little lately, thanks to this list. I’m still not too keen on America centered war movies but I find ones from other countries like The Ascent or Rome, Open City to be fascinating, perspective wise. Ashes and Diamonds is a great example of this kind of thing because I have never really thought about what Poland had to go through after the war. Warsaw was in almost complete ruin during WWII and that’s about all I know, so it didn’t occur to me that someone would have to deal with the consequences of a broken country, one that was so fragile after conflict.

Apparently, before France started making ‘artsy’ movies, Poland was considered to be one of the best for that sort of thing. Ashes and Diamonds is a beautiful film. I liked that it wasn’t a straightforward action movie, even though the plot would have me believe otherwise. There were so many haunting parts, my favorite being Maciek and Krystyna strolling through the destroyed church. I loved the contrast between the couple falling in love in the midst of destruction. And just in case it wasn’t clear what was going on, the director threw in the couple coming upon the bodies of the two men Maciek had accidentally killed.

a great place for a first date!

The real reason to watch Ashes and Diamonds is for Maciek Chelmicki. I loved him from the very first scene when he was laying down in the grass, casually waiting to carry out the assassination. He looked so badass in his colored shades and so above it all. He was the true James Dean of  Poland- laid back, a rebel, a guy with a story. I thought the idea of him falling in love so quickly was a little silly but it made sense in the context that Chelmicki had never considered the idea before and latched on so fiercely. The final scene as he realized he had been shot fatally and would never get to experience another way of life was heartbreaking, to say the least.

FInal review: 4/5

Up next: Apocalypse Now