The Night I Saw Apocalypse Now.
I'm starting to miss going to the cinema now at this point, and I know many others are too. So, I'm going to tell of the experience I had seeing Apocalypse Now for the first time in the cinema.
I ended up spending a lot of time in the cinema over the summer of 2019 more than I realised, which served for a very good escape for me away from everything going topsy turvy. Much like the year prior when I spent a whole day at the Vue watching Incredibles II then Ant-Man & The Wasp, never done that before. That was fun to do right before the new college year started. Normally my trips to the cinema are once every 3 months maybe, something like that. If there’s a superhero film out or something else exciting I’ll go see it, naturally. But the summer of 2019 I was there almost once every two weeks… ish. Felt like that anyway.
Let’s see what I watched from May to August.
Detective Pikachu
Toy Story 4
Spider-Man Far From Home
John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum (Twice)
The Matrix 20th Anniversary
and Apocalypse Now 40th Anniversary Final Cut.
I went to the cinema 7 times in the space of 4 months. That’s the most I have ever been and I’m probably going to exceed that in the future.
I’ve always made it a habit every year on my birthday to go to the cinema, fortunately some Marvel film falls on it. Would’ve been Black Widow this year. I could’ve seen Endgame on my birthday but I opted to see that sooner and watched Detective Pikachu on my birthday instead. It was good. Nabbed some pokemon cards after.
But it’s Apocalypse Now I want to talk about because I still think about that feeling I got when the credits started to roll and everyone left the room.
I was going to book tickets for Spider-Man Far From Home on the Vue’s site and looking through at what was on I saw Apocalypse Now 40th Anniversary. It wasn’t until later on after I saw Apocalypse Now I’d learn it was the final cut recently edited together by Coppola. I had never seen it before and I wanted to keep myself occupied and distracted from a somewhat bleak summer, so I harassed my cousin and brother to come see it with me. My cousin was easiest to convince, he’d already had seen it before and my brother decided to join at the last minute.
We got there, grabbed the tickets, nabbed our popcorn and drinks and soon enough took our seats. And it was packed. It isn’t too often I really see showings at the Vue so full but that’s because of the times I pick to go. But I remember looking around at the types of people that turned up; all mostly older folk and around my age range. I figured most had seen it before in the past and some were new to seeing Apocalypse Now as I was and my brother too.
Then the film started.
A landscape shot of trees faded in, a mustard yellow smoke misted by, The End by The Doors chimed in dictating its haunting tone, then suddenly a wash of fire. Helicopters streamed by and an upside down visage of Martin Sheen’s character Willard juxtaposes over more landscapes on fire. It’s near the end of the Vietnam war. Immediately I am captivated.
Bare one thing in mind that for the past 4 years now I’ve been studying film and TV at college. I had just ended my third year and I’m a month away from beginning my fourth and final year. I’m consuming more films and tv and media than I can recall more consciously. And I’m scrupulously analysing what I watch, how it’s made, its structure, what tricks are used, its pacing, its editing, how the scenes are set up, how it’s filmed, what conscious choices are being made and what accidents occur. So I’m watching Apocalypse Now both as a film student and as a film fan. And I’m tickled both ways by what event I get to witness.
The film is 3 hours long. It feels it by about an hour and a half in, ish, I wasn’t really paying too much attention to the time, but throughout I was involved and unsettled in a good way. My brother left minutes before the Ride of the Valkyries scene, it became not his kinda film. But my cousin and I stayed until the end. We watched the insanity of the Vietman war unfold, the toll it takes on the characters, the effects it has on others. It is not a feel good film at all, the heroes don’t really win or get out alive or easy. Why would they? It was a nasty war.
And then came Marlon Brando’s scenes. Its use of shadows to establish a further eerie environment, Brando’s performance unwinding further the character Kurtz’s madness and dominion over a people, his sorrow, and the poetic monologues and lectures he would give. Lectures on the horrors of war, judgement, and morality. Kurtz was a man lost to the war with no bringing back and Sheen’s character Willard is forced to make some difficult choices.
And then he slays him. He cuts down Kurtz and his final words echo “The horror… the horror…”
Willard leaves, his job done, and still the chilling words linger “The horror… the horror…” as the film then fades to black.
“The horror… the horror…”
…
The credits roll. The lights turn up. And I looked, slackjawed at the screen then forced myself to turn to everyone else. No one made a sound. Slowly each person started to get up and leave. I looked to my cousin and he was quiet. We headed down the stairs and out the door and not a peep from my cousin nor anyone around me. And I was speechless.
Throughout I was thinking “What the hell did I just witness? What did I just watch? What effect has this film had on me? Is everyone else feeling the same too? What are they feeling? They’ve gotta be feeling the same thing too.”
Then my cousin and I walked through the foyer and back into the outside world. He grabbed a cigarette from his jacket pocket and “Well, that just happened” I finally said. “Yeah.” my cousin muffled through a cigarette in his mouth and fishing for a lighter.
Now here’s the thing. Every time I’ve gone to the cinema with my family or friends we have always had something to say or talk about after watching a film, either while still sat in the cinema as the credits rolled or when outside, or both. With this there was nothing and it was eerie, haunting and unsettling. It was a deliberately provoked feeling by a film. And I have NEVER had that feeling before with a film. Ever. This horrifically haunting, anxiety inducing experience from a story of the horrors of war. An experience and feeling that I was sharing with others. This consciously communal feeling and calling that arose once the credits started and lights came on rang “Right. That just happened. Get up, don’t say a word, walk out and try and process what you just witnessed.” And I still think about that feeling and I’m never going to forget it.
I can remember every exciting moment in the cinema shared on my birthday. But this was new. This was something special and different. This was chilling and shook something in me. And I still question “did everyone else have this same experience the first time it came out in 1979? Did they feel the same thing once the credits started? Is this going to be something that others will experience in the future and thereby showing the film’s longevity? Is it only something that can be experienced in a cinema?”
Hell, I don’t know if any other film might have the same or similar effect as Apocalypse Now had on me. Probably never. Probably only Apocalypse Now can uniquely do that while others will and do have their own unique effects.
But one thing I do know is that’s the power and the effect that cinema has on someone. To steal them away into a fantasy world for a couple of hours, give them an experience of exaltation and entertainment and leave them to go back out into the real world changed for the better. Like all good fiction does and should do.
I did have a similar experience when I saw The Matrix 20th Anniversary a month before. I had already seen it and thoroughly enjoyed it, I own the DVD trilogy, but watching it in the cinema gave a totally different experience yet again. It had a different effect to what I had experienced with it already watching it at home. And one thing I’ve come to learn between watching films in the cinema and watching films at home is watching films at home is fine, it's great, it’s wonderful and comfy and we’re so lucky to have it. But they can be interrupted, you can get distracted with other things. Yes, you can easily sit down and dedicate two hours of your time to watching a film and getting comfy watching it wherever and however you want at home, but in a cinema you sit down in a dark room, you shut up, you stuff your face with popcorn and wash it down with a drink and you're locked into that film and that fantasy world for 2 hours plus without interruptions, distractions or any other kind of inconveniences.
Which…
One thing that was stark throughout watching Apocalypse Now is everyone was dead silent in the cinema. Every seat available that had found itself occupied by a pair of buttocks and every person those buttocks were attached to were all equally enthralled. Their attention was stolen and sucked into the film with awe and no one ever made a sound. Which, you know, is how it should be when you watch a film in the cinema. It’s fine and great to be excited with what you’re watching and obviously you can’t stifle a laugh. You need to enjoy what you’re watching and that should be encouraged. But there’s no sense in applauding and hollering at the big screen. There really isn’t. The people on the wall aren’t really there, they can’t hear you and appreciate your response live so what’s the point? You want to do that, go to a live theatre where the living breathing actors on stage can actually hear and appreciate your responses. But if you’re watching a film in the cinema, shut the fuck up. Don’t ruin it for others and make them miss something because you turn into a seal with a clown nose on.
I get the argument that it is a shared experience of excitement, and it is, I agree with that, and yeah it’s wonderful that people can get so excited and enjoy a film that much. Good! It’s the same thing you get in a concert and any other kind of live show. That is intrinsically something we have done since the days of death matches with gladiators. It’s kinda human nature at this point.
But in a cinema… There have been so many people put off from going to the cinema because of people screaming and clapping and bringing their babies that are hard to quiet down (which why?— whatever, I’m not getting into that. Not my business). It is off-putting for a lot people.
There’s a time and a place for these things. If you had a friend over at your place and you were trying to watch a film together and they wouldn’t shut the fuck up for one reason or another you’d kick the bastard out. So it isn’t a case of don’t enjoy what you’re watching, just be respectful of other people’s enjoyment. Everyone deserves to have the best time possible at the cinema and enjoy the film thoroughly, so don’t rob other people’s enjoyment. A little consideration doesn’t hurt.
That little tanget aside, that was my experience seeing Apocalypse Now for the first time. Cinema gives an experience unlike any you’ll see or have elsewhere. It’s different watching a film in a large, dark room with strangers or friends and family or a date than it is at home. Wildly. And that is an experience that deserves to be saved and shared. It is a necessity for public entertainment. We need these cinematic events and I will be thrilled when we will be able to experience them together again once things return to some kind of normalcy.
Plus, I’ll need it for a job. I’ve got films that need to be made and I’m going to have your butts sat in seats and eyeballs to watch them dammit.