Apocalypse Now- Alexander Culverwell
The film “Apocalypse Now” is depicted as a film that could either be seen as a pro-war or anti-war. I found it hard to distinguish the difference between these two in this film; it was more about the war rather than judging it. Another aspect that I thought about the film was that it didn’t show the patriotism that the previous films about the Second World War showed.
I thought that the Vietnam War was a war that was clearly lost by the Americans. I was not aware, as I am from Britain, that most Americans did not know why they were involved in the war. Tomasulo writes in "The Politics of Ambilvalence" that "In some ways, Apocalypse Now shows the war not as immoral, only mishandled. It may be saying that had Americans made war with the passion of Colonel Kilgore, the cool of Captain Willard, and the brutal honesty of Colonel Kurtz, the United States would have won" (Tomasulo, 141)
Overall, I thought it was a good film that touched on many good subjects but was not as convincing as the previous World War II films.