Apocalypse Now

            Apocalypse Now is a film that was made in 1979 and focuses on the events that follow Captain Willard as he works toward assassinating an American general who has supposedly gone insane during the Vietnam war. Willard is a very distraught character who from the very start suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has difficulty adjusting to the quiet of everyday life compared to the war. Then when he is asked to assassinate Kurtz, an American general who has quit the army and has gone “insane”, Willard must go back into the battle with a group of men escorting him on his mission. Throughout Vietnam, the men show little regard to the Vietnamese as actual people and perform atrocious acts that depict fictional representations of documented acts of war, such as the killing of innocent civilians. As the time goes by Willard learns more and more about Kurtz from intel, and as the journey goes on, he starts to become just as Kurtz was and doing some of the same things that got Kurtz on a hit list with the US. In the end, Willard sees what Kurtz is like and must decide to either kill him and become the new Kurtz or leave him to live, but Willard chooses to kill the man in order to complete his mission.

            Willard’s transformation into the beast that he was hunting was a very interesting idea and I believe the director was able to realize this very well in this film where man must become what he is looking for in order to succeed in their journey. This is true as Willard becomes exactly what Kurtz was and I think this was incredibly realized by the acting, as Martin Sheen was incredible as Willard as he was able to show such striking and disembodied emotions. AS well Martin Brandlo did a great job as Kurtz as even though we only see him for a bit, his role is none less important as he comes to be the great evil of the story, but when you meet him he is just a normal man who has chosen his own fate.

            Apocalypse Now was also a very different look at a Vietnam movie as it had a more artistic feel to it with all the dramatic lighting and psychological colours. This is true for when you see Kurtz, he is not fully shown and has a sepia tone to him to make him look otherworldly. Also the use of movement was very important as a lot of time the characters were moving, the camera was able to create a sense of speed or danger as when they are flying in helicopters and running away from the tiger.

            The use of the Philippines as Vietnam also worked very well as it really seemed like a lush tropical paradise riddled with war . The ending where Willard was going to kill Kurtz was also very well done, as it was dark outside to symbolize the immoral and unjust act Willard is about to commit. Also the use of the boar as a prop was very symbolic as the Vietnamese killing of the boar as a way of foreshadowing what Willard is about to do. Costume and makeup was also effective in this film as many of the characters looked really rough and dirty because they have been in duty for the past while and many have tattered clothing, making it convincing that they are in a war.

            In conclusion, I think this is a great film as it is neither a pro war film or anti war film, and it is for the viewer to decide as it is very ambiguous like that. This was a very interesting and well made look at the Vietnam war. I am giving this film a 9/10 and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the war as well as who want to see a good movie. 

Forrest Gump Review

                Forest Gump is a film starring Tom Hanks and is directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film begins with a young Forest Gump who is developmentally disable as well as has braces on his legs that prevent him from being normal as everyone else. He is picked on as a kid, but from the care and guidance from his mother, he is able to stay in a regular school and have the self esteem he needs to survive in society. Then when Forest meets Jenny, a girl who is abused by her father, they become lifelong friends and Jenny is able to get away from her father and live with her grandparents. Forest is then able to get his leg braces off when he must run away from bullies, this is when he experiences complete freedom and is able to finally run. Later in his life, because of his incredible speed as a runner he is able to go to college to play football as a running back. After this he is enlisted in the army to fight in Vietnam and after seeing his whole platoon being shot down and his best friend, Bubba, die he is brought back to the US. Here he sees Jenny many times but dos not notice her downward spiral to drugs and an abusive relationship, where she tries to commit suicide. Forrest then becomes very wealthy from his luck in the shrimping business, so Jenny comes to live with him to get a hold of herself and her ability to function in normal society, but her love for Forrest becomes too much as she sleeps with him and then must run away. Forrest is really upset about this and the fact that his mother died, so he goes on a run around America, Jenny then writes him and he finds out that she was carrying his child and that Jenny is about to die from HIV. Forrest overcomes all obstacles and prejudice in his life to live a very successful and fulfilling life in the end.        

The acting in this film is very believable as it is easy to tell that there is something “off” about Forrest from the way he talks and the way he is able to tell his life story to any random person. Tom Hanks portrays this character very well as he acts very oblivious to everything around him and he creates an accent for Forrest that makes him sound very slow. The use of weather in this film was very funny when he was talking about how in Vietnam, there was always rain and the different types of rainfall there was, this was a very funny way at poking fun at how obvious the use of weather for tone was. The use of the leg braces as props for when Forrest was running away from the bullies was very important as with this he was able to embark on his life of running, the breaking of the leg braces was the beginning of Forrest’s life of good. Also the film music was very effective as the film makers chose to use a lot of popular rock songs from the 60’s and 70’s, with this it was very effective as most people associate that time period with the music and this music added a sense of truth to the events.

Honestly, I didn’t want to like this movie at first because I thought it would be very crude and dumb, to watch a movie about a person who is developmentally handicapped as I thought it was just a film about making fun of people like that. But once I started watching it, Forrest grew on me as I started to see how pure of a character he was and how nothing seemed to bring him down. This sense of optimism was very refreshing to see in a movie covering such serious aspects of history; for once I think the “ignorance is bliss” attitude somehow brought things for the better for Forrest. This is true as without trying he was able to go to college, survive in the Vietnam War, grow a very successful shrimping business, become a ping pong all-star and have a son. By contrast I think the character of Jenny was very interesting as she was the complete opposite of Forrest, as she seemed to try to find trouble and had an abusive parent. Her constant feelings of wanting to be like a bird and flying away, made sense for being a person who was sexually abused and when she tries to kill herself, you wonder what could make her want to be away from her closest friend. Ultimately, I think she didn’t want to be around a person who was so perfect as it would discourage her as she is so damaged.

In conclusion, I think this is a very interesting and entertaining film that I think every should see. It is a very touching tale and I would give an 8.5/10. 

Shake hands with the devil documentary review

            After writing his book, Shake Hands with the devil, Romeo Dallaire has come back to Rwanda ten years after the tragic events of the Rwandan genocide. As he is brought back to the place where he saw brutal murders and dead bodies everywhere ten years earlier, Dallaire is swept away at how much Rwanda has changed to a peaceful place where Tutsi and Hutu can live together. Dallaire meets with people who lost their entire family because of the genocide as well as gives lectures at stadiums and press conferences. I think this was a very strong story as you get to see the man who had the most responsibility to save the Rwandan people and see how the people of Rwanda treat him with such respect and admiration. His lecture at the stadium was also very honest as he fully said that the imperial powers of the world didn’t care about Rwanda and didn’t care about blacks, which they let die without any remorse.

            The film was also showed what the locations Dallaire was visiting looked like 10 years before thanks to footage during the genocide, this footage really put what Dallaire must have been feeling in perspective as we were able to see what he saw. It was also very interesting to see how the leader of the Red cross group that was stationed in Rwanda during the genocide though of Dallaire. He showed that people who were trying to help out Tutsis during the time like Dallaire, saw him as a hero and a leader, while at the same time some people blamed him for what happened. I was shocked that the Belgian man at the press conference was blaming Dellaire for what happened to the Belgian peacekeepers, as this was highly inappropriate as it was an event to commemorate the lost lives of the Rwandan people. The fact that the Belgian man was yelling at Dallaire made me really angry as his country was responsible for the civil wars, and they ignored Dallaire’s fax that warned that Belgian peacekeepers were going to be killed, yet they blamed Dallaire.   

            In conclusion I believe this was a very powerful documentary as it did show how he is very distraught for allowing the genocide to continue. Also it was very powerful for us to be able to see his first time back to Rwanda and how he felt being back in the place where he failed to save almost a million people. The fact that he can live day by day after such a tragedy shows how strong he really is, as he did do everything he could to help but was given no support by the UN. I really enjoyed this film and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who knows about what Dallaire did in Rwanda, so I am going to give this documentary a 9 out of 10.

Ghosts of Rwanda Review

              Ghosts of Rwanda is a documentary looking at the events of the Rwandan genocide and uses interviews from people who were there in Rwanda during the genocide as well as historians.  With this film, the experiences of people who aren’t as well-known as Paul Rusessebegina and Romeo Dallaire are able to tell their story of how they contributed to saving refugees in Rwanda. A lot of gruesome footage is shown of skeletal bodies lying on the floor in Rwanda without any burial, which leaves the viewer with a feeling of sadness and disgust that such an event could have happened without any international aid. There are many powerful stories in this film, such as the one from the one American left in Rwanda, who was able to save a group of orphans who were in hiding by sticking up to the leader of the Interhamwe and telling him he had to do something to save those children. This is very touching as beyond all odds, he was able to convince the person most likely responsible for the genocide, to not kill any of the children.                     

            As a documentary, Ghosts of Rwanda is a very informative and interesting film that provides a lot of information on the genocide and its effect on the people who were trying to help stop the genocide. There was also a story, where a girl must hid under dead bodies in a church to escape being noticed by the interhamwe and their dogs. This was already powerful enough, and then to add more there was footage of the church that she was hiding in, where there were just hundreds of dead children, men and women sprawled on the ground as skeletons. The filming in this documentary was very effective as most shots were medium shots or close ups to establish the person speaking about their experiences and because of little camera movement, we were able to focus more on what the person was saying than what they were doing. In conclusion, I think this is a very effective documentary on the genocide and it is very informative, I would recommend this film to anyone who has already seen Hotel Rwanda or Shake Hands with the Devil so they could learn more of the event. I am giving this film an 8/10 because it was a very effective documentary and I learned a lot of things I didn’t know already. 

Shake hands with the devil review

             Shake Hands With the Devil follows the life of General Romeo Dallaire during the Rwandan genocide. This film depicts Dallaire’s frustrated efforts on trying to prevent and ultimately put a stop to the genocide, but instead he is met with selfish nations that don’t want to risk their own men, but are fine with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans. Dallaire is constantly met with orders not to intervene in Hutu-Tutsi war by his superiors even when he is given information that the French have been supplying the Hutu militia with illegal weapons.  The gruesome sights that he must witness take an emotional toll on him and he must resort to cutting himself, to distract his emotional pain with physical pain. By the end, even when the war is over Dallaire has to live with knowing he could have done something to stop the genocide, and saved hundreds of thousands of live.

            This was an incredibly detailed film as it really focused on the history of the genocide and what was done the UN peacekeeping forces. The depiction of the peacekeeping forces’ point of view was amazing as  it showed that these men although they didn’t do anything to stop the genocide, they were truly trying to and they were even killing themselves mentally for not being able to stop such terror. Roy Dupuis did a very good job as Dallaire as he acted like a strong man, who was able to stand up to villains like the Hutu militia responsible for the genocide as well as he was able to show the emotional anguish that Dellaire must have had.

            Natural light was also used effectively as when outside the characters were really visible, but sometimes when indoors the shadows would create a dark feeling to the scene and create emphasis in the danger of the scene. Examples of this are when he goes in to negotiate with the three Hutu leaders and the lighting makes the men look evil and whenever Dallaire is talking to psychiatrist and the lighting is dark to emphasise Dallaire’s inner turmoil. Real sound was also used very effectively when you could hear the mortars and bombs going off in the area, as it adds a sense of danger and impending death. This is really important as when Dallaire is calling New York to ask for troops, the man on the other end who is sitting in a quiet office, cannot hear Dallaire because the UN building is constantly shaking because of the warfare. With this the director is trying to show how the American’s had a complete disconnect with the war as they felt they were too good to help out and that they had no idea what was really going on there.

            Setting was incredibly well used in this film as it was set in all the exact locations in Rwanda where everything happened in the film. This adds a high sense of realism as well as the fact that the real Rwanda is shown as a beautiful and serene place. The war then creates a sense of shock to movie as how could such a beautiful land be facing such a disgusting event. Overall, this was great films to show the history of the Rwandan genocide and all the efforts that were put in by the UN forces. I would rate this film an 8/10 and I would recommend this film to anyone who has ever been interested in the events of the Rwandan genocide as this is a great history lesson. 

Hotel Rwanda Review

            Hotel Rwanda is a film based on the Rwandan genocide in 1994 between the Hutus and the Tutsis. This film follows the real life events of Paul Rusesabagina, as a man who is trying to protect Rwandan refugees from the Hutu militia. As a prominent manager of the prestigious hotel de Milles Collines, Paul has many advantages in his life as a wealthy and respected man. But even though Paul is a Hutu he is still in a hard situation as his wife is a Tutsi. In hopes of protecting his family, Paul uses his hotel as a means of hiding his Tutsi friends, leading others to come to the hotel in hopes of being saved. Paul then becomes a hero to these people as he is working to protect them, while the UN peacekeeping soldiers are doing nothing to stop the Hutu militia, as well as evacuating all their troops out of Rwanda. Paul shows that one man can make a difference as he is able to save hundreds of people from slaughter by reaching out to the world in a plea for help.

            Don Cheadle was incredible in this film because he was able to portray Paul very well as he actually met with the real man and learned about him. His acting was great and he really gave an emotional performance as only a man who is trying to save hundreds of lives can. Cheadle was able to make Paul into a very smooth and intelligent man who thought quickly on his feet and was able to work hard for what he believed. Real music was also used very effectively for when all the children were walking up to the hotel singing in unison. That music really added a dark feeling to the movie as although it was a very happy song, it really contrasted with what was happening in the film as it made you realize really how disgusting this violence was, as even children like the ones singing were killed.

            The difference between groups was easily distinguishable thanks to the use of costumes as the Hutu militia had on colourful shirts and pants, while the Tutsi army had on army vests and equipment. Also the UN forces had the blue berets on to signify a force of aid to the country. But  ultimately they were useless in their aid as no powerful country in the world wanted to risk soldiers for some silly African “civil war”, so the UN forces were just laughed at by the Hutus. The outfits of the Hutu soldiers were also very important as it showed that they believed that they were of some sort of royalty wearing such majestic clothing, but these feelings contrasted a lot when they were with machetes as it just made them look wild and crazy.

            Weather was used very well when Paul and his partner had gone out to get supplies and it was too foggy to see anything and they began to run over bodies. This was important as because of the fog we were given a sense of disarray and darkness, this allowed for the shock of the sheer amount of bodies on the floor to sink in and really bring an emotional response to the audience.

            Overall the I think it was a great Hollywood movie as it provided some history, but ultimately it was more about the one man’s struggle to save others with a happy ending. This movie had great acting and it was strong in its message about the international community really needing to step up, but it had little to no explanation of the history or about anything happening outside the hotel. Also the representation of Dellaire really creates a negative stigma about the efforts of the Canadian peacekeeping troops. Overall I would give this film an 8/10 and I would recommend it to all people except those who do not know anything about this genocide. 

Gojira Review

                Gojira is the original, Japanese Godzilla released in 1954 after the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This movie takes the idea that the nuclear weapon testing in the Japanese waters by the American’s caused a lone surviving dinosaur to mutate to a Godzilla. This is a great premise for a dystopian film as it provides a semi-realistic possibility of the near future. This film was especially effective as to when it was released as it came out after the bombings in Japan as a statement against the use of nuclear weapons. Gojira provided a great premise for a dystopian film as it took real events that had just happened in Japan and created a horrible result to it to create an emotional response to the Japanese viewer.

                Although the movie came out over 60 years ago, the themes and subject matter are still relevant today and still strike the same message as an anti-nuclear warfare movie. Some of the effects in the movie are a little crude and noticeably fake, but that is completely understandable as the impressive CGI technology we have now did not exist in 1954. Be that as it may, the movie still falls flat with its actors and script. The actors are incredibly corny in their expression and make their overall performance unbelievable and ridiculous. As well the script isn’t written very well (as I infer from the subtitles) as the characters would explain what was happening in the scene instead of just advancing the story through character and plot development.

                The character Serisawa was the direct link to the anti-nuclear weapons message as he was able to create an oxygen bomb that is much stronger than even the hydrogen bomb, which when put in water  would be able to take all the oxygen and kill all living things in the water. This is where the acting skills go flat for me as the female protagonist in this film was a terrible actress, the gasp that she makes when seeing the oxygen bomb at work alone shows her acting chops. Serisawa, shows as a character, moral struggle as he has developed a weapon of mass destruction but wishes it was used in a peaceful manner, as if there is a safe way of using something that kills everything in its viscinity.  Despite this I think Serisawa was what truly grounded this movie from being a completely mindless film as he provides a jab at the American’s decision to nuke Japan. I could only wonder how powerful of a film like this must have been to watch in theatres when it first came out in Japan as it would have had such a strong effect on the people.

                The Godzilla theme was also very dramatic and the score they made for this movie really fit the character of Godzilla by creating suspense to the sheer sight of him. The use of music completely gets you excited about seeing Godzilla destroy something and at the same time it creates a suspenseful and dangerous tone to the movie. Overall I think Godzilla is a classic that should be seen by everyone who has ever watched any Godzilla film as they would need to see the original where the movie actually had a message instead of just mindless violence. I would give this movie a 7 out of 10 because although it had a good message, the acting was just comical and the black and white and subtitles will throw a lot of people off. So I would recommend all people to watch this unless they aren’t willing to watch a movie with subtitles.