Microanalysis of Apocalypse Now by F.Coppola - Movie Review Example

17 April 2008 Micro Analysis of “Apocalypse Now” (1979) Cinematography and Sound are just two of the most vital elements in a film which make a remarkable impact on the film’s viewers in general. This micro analysis of a seven-minute sequence in the 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now, will basically discuss and review the quality, framing, movement and sound editing within the film and how these elements assisted in creating an impression to the audience. The selected sequence is the famous battle scene at “Charlie’s Point” synchronized to a glorious musical score “The `Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner. Inspired by the 1902 novel of Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now presents a story of a U.S. Army assassin, Captain Benjamin Willard in his final mission in Vietnam. Willard is tasked to take a voyage up the Nung River into Cambodia, for purposes of finding and killing a renegade Green Beret officer, Colonel Walter Kurtz. Kurtz, who is believed to have gone insane, leads a native Montagnard army in the commission of derange killings. The native army regards Kurtz as their ‘god’. Willard joins the troop of a Navy river patrol boat in order to reach Kurtz. As the journey of Willard continues, his crew comes across Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, chief of a U.S. Army helicopter cavalry group, who led the elimination of a Viet Cong colony to afford an entry point for the Patrol Boat River into the mouth of the Nung River. After several notable episodes of the journey, Willard finally reached the outpost of Kurtz, completing his mission and thereby gaining an acknowledgment of the natives as their new ‘god’. The chosen sequence depicts a part of the journey of battle-weary Captain Benjamin Willard to the ferocious profundity of war. The film sequence focuses on Willard’s mission to attack a Vietnamese village suspected of being an enemy stronghold, with the indispensable participation of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, who takes Willard on an airborne foray utilizing several U.S. army gunships. The sequence begins on the sound of a trumpet signalling the commencement of the mission as depicted by the movement of the first helicopter gunship elevating from the ground, followed consecutively by the rest of the gunships. As the helicopters soar the sky, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” plays in the background. Here, the viewer is being initiated into the spectacle and awesome sight of war. As each of the helicopters ascends in the orange sky, showing overlapping shots of helicopters in tight formation from the horizon into a rising sun, the viewer is presented with an indication of hope and an anticipation of victory. The use of orange as a colour preference depicting the sky signifies strength and endurance, and suggests a pristine way of starting a victorious battle. The use of wide-screen and low-angle shots generates an ostentatious, idealistic and a blissful aura of battle which effectively transforms death and annihilation resulting from acts of terror into a panorama of awe-inspiring beauty. This finds more relevance as the music of “The Ride of the Valkyries” starts to escalate and intensify, perfectly matching the silhouette view of palm trees alongside the serene sea where the approaching helicopters emerge. This artistic beautification of violence deeply contributes to the film’s appeal to a warped patriotism. As the soldiers eagerly load their missiles and war weapons, and the helicopters fly down in the direction of the unwary peasants, the viewer hears Kilgore orders and makes a directive for the music to start. Coming from the enormous speakers mounted on the underbellies of the choppers, the musical trilling of the flutes of Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries” fill the firmament. At this point, Willard stares in amazement at Kilgore, who shouts over the hubbub just moments before the attack begins, “It scares the hell out of the slopes. My boys love it!" In playing “The Ride of the Valkyries”, in the above-described scene, the soldiers’ faces of mixed feelings of excitement, anticipation and sometimes tension and fear are being made manifest in the frame. This transmission of feelings from the army soldiers to the audience is aimed at the latter’s physical, spiritual and psychological transformation. The viewer is then exposed to the wonders of war. From this Valkyries sequence, a striking sudden transition from loudness to silence is observable as the camera swings from one scene to another, demonstrating a shift in location. In this particular sequence, the louder sound of the music “The Ride of the Valkyries” is openly perceived in the flying helicopter. Then a sudden silence is presented as the scene of the flying helicopter cuts to the stillness and tranquillity of a schoolyard within the Vietnamese village. The manner in the shifting of scenes and/or location is obviously seamless - from the loud sound of the Valkyries to the peaceful sound of the village schoolyard, where sounds of children singing, and the off-screen sounds of dogs barking and bell ringing. This transition in the visual and sound effect used in the sequence assists the viewer to share the point of view of the Vietnamese villagers, who are abruptly going to be surrounded and engulfed with the clamour and violence approaching them. The transition from one location to another, and from a loud sound of “The Ride of the Valkyries” in the horizon to a sudden silence, provides the viewer a deeper impact, both psychologically and geographically. Thereafter, from the quiet scene in the schoolyard, the viewer begins to hear the sound of the helicopters and the music “The Ride of the Valkyries”. Then the sound moves briskly forward as it eventually surrounds the entire arena. This whole transition from the helicopter scene with loud and strong music, to the stillness of the schoolyard, back to the helicopter scene again, effectively builds up excitement and stimulation to the viewer. There is an instinctual effect on the audience when an incredibly loud sound unexpectedly cuts off. The sudden shift from something loud and sustained to silence likewise generates an opportunity to create a built-up level of the music again, which offers a much more intense and powerful level of music when the helicopters hitting the beach would again be demonstrated in the scene. Furthermore, point-of-view camera angles place the viewer in the shoe of the army aboard the helicopter, looking down on the Vietnamese villagers in the course of the attack. This effect makes the Vietnamese villagers faceless and minute in the frame as they are gunned down by the mighty army from the helicopter. A very noticeable shifting of the scene is present when the camera moves in to detach and isolate the anguish of a wounded American army soldier. This swift movement of the camera brings a cinematic inference of the invigorating pre-eminence and dominance of the American attack. The cinematic approach of high angle of framing perceptibly points toward the relation between the characters, the Vietnamese villagers and the army of Kilgore. It reveals the vulnerability and defencelessness of the attacked villagers on the one hand, and the supremacy and power of the attacking American army of soldiers in the helicopter, on the other. As the scenes of the raid unfolds, the viewer is presented with the alternate, sometimes overlapping sounds of helicopters, explosions, screaming villagers, machine guns, roaring orders and replies from the radio of Kilgore and army pilots, respectively, and the hair-raising sound of “The Ride of the Valkyries” in the background. The professional approach in the cinematography and sound editing used in the focus sequence has greatly helped and contributed to the huge critical and commercial success of Apocalypse Now. In fact, this signature sequence has always been a favourite among the viewers. The utilization of the above-discussed approaches, both with respect to the film’s cinematography and sound, contributed to a great extent in the triumph and achievement of Apocalypse Now. In all, the cinematography and sound mixes used in Apocalypse Now facilitated its success making said film as one of the most thrilling and spine-tingling picture of its time. For if it were otherwise, Francis Ford Coppola could not have earned his second Academy Award for Best Director and editor-mixer Walter Murch, his Oscar Award. Read More