A Different Perspective

In just the first few minutes of the 1979 movie, Apocalypse Now, there were many filming techniques used to portray a variety of messages. In one such scene there is a wide-angle image of a tree line being incinerated by napalm. Soon this image is overlapped another scene, a close-up, with a shirtless man staring into the camera. The man’s eyes are blank, as if he is thinking, remembering whatever atrocities he has experienced in Vietnam. I found that this particular scene to be very interesting because I believe that what the director was trying to show that these soldiers could never be free of what they had seen. Whether it was a beautiful palm tree being burnt to ashes or finding a comrade dead, the experiences stuck. The second scene that I found to be intriguing occurred shortly after the on I have just described.

 As the scene has just completely transitioned to the man’s face, staring into the camera. There is an overlapping scene of close ups of the various items surrounding the man on his bed and nightstand: an empty liquor bottle, a handgun, some cigarettes and a lighter to name a few. These images accompanied with the man’s empty stare, evoke the idea that this man is struggling with depression or some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome. The director also employs sound effects to drive home a point. When the camera view changes from the man’s face to the ceiling fan above. The sounds produced by the fan are easily distinguishable as the chopping blades of a Huey helicopter. Wherever this man looks the sights and sounds of the war remain imbedded in his memory.