Formal Film Study: Vietnam War Films

Since reading the book, Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers in seventh grade I have been exceptionally interested in the Vietnam War.  Everything surrounding it, the fear that all of Southeast Asia would turn communism if Vietnam did, the idea that anyone could be the enemy, and the counterculture and resistance to the war back at home makes Vietnam my favorite historic time period to study.  So this time when the formal film study project came along, it made sense to pick movies centered around it especially after learning about the movie's in the 70's.  The movies I decided to watch were Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter.  All three of these movies are usually seen in good light by the critics, deserved to be as I throughly enjoyed each movie.  

As I said earlier these films were made in the 70's or shot with a very 70's feel to it (Full Metal Jacket was made in '87).  The characters portrayed in these movies are not superheroes, these men were cold, hard and definitely the ambiguous hero.  This fits the Vietnam War perfectly as the men in Vietnam had to make spot judgements in the heat of battle, and these judgements weren't the most moral.  The shady characters portrayed by Matthew Modine (Private Joker, Full Metal Jacket), Robert de Niro, (Micheal, The Deer Hunter), and Martin Sheen (Capt. Benjamin Willard, Apocalypse Now) were all well played for the roles.  That said, some minor complaints I have is I thought the acting in Full Metal Jacket seemed to playful, and funny for the situations and that Martin Sheen was too intense to believe.  I was reading a military forum (I know not the best source) on what movie Vietnam veterans tended to find the most realistic in terms of their experience and have found that Platoon (bummed I didn't watch this, but Henry did) was the most accurate, with Apocalypse Now seeming to place second.  Finding that was important to me, because its hard for me to say The Deer Hunter was a better story due to its realism than say Apocalypse Now which I find important in portraying this war. However, I do realize its a movie and a movie is made to entertain, so I know I can't take everything in these movies for the truth of Vietnam.

Another thing that was highlighted in all three of these films is that Vietnam causes a loss of innocence in the American youth, and the inability to recover their old lives back.  In Full Metal Jacket we see Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio), a kid who can't help but smile, be molded into an angry, psychotic killer and that was only through boot camp.  In Apocalypse Now we meet Sheen's character, Capt. Willard, after one tour, but we learn that he is a mess, an alcoholic who wife had left him, he had nothing better to do, but to stay in the war.  As mentioned earlier Capt. Willard is a tough and desensitized as they come. In The Deer Hunter we start the movie off with a wonderful wedding, and the friendship of five steel-mill workers in a shabby Pennsylvanian town.  After the war, we see Michael avoid the party for him.  When they go hunting again, his two non-war buddies messing around with guns is no longer funny, and Micheal probably adjusted the best of the three friends who went to Vietnam.  Steven (John Salvage) left with only a right arm, refuses to see his wife, and when Nick (Christopher Walken) left for war, he never came back to the point that he was unable to recognize Micheal.  The message is clear in these Vietnam films, once you leave to fight, you never really come back.  

These are the parts of the movie that I think highlight the best part of the movie.  In Coppola's Apocalpyse now I thought the aesthetics of this film were amazing. I thought his use of color was wonderfully done, seen here in Sheen's head in the water.  Shadowing was also another strength in Apocalypse now bringing in the darkness of the Godfather especially around Marlon Brando (again) near the end of the movie. I really enjoyed Full Metal Jacket because it showed the boot camp.  Realistic or not I have never seen a war film focused on that beginning step as much, but it truly is an important part of joining the war effort.  Plus some of the drill sergeants dialogue is classic.  As for The Deer Hunter, I thought the acting across the board was incredible.  Robert de Niro, Christopher Walken, Maryl Streep, John Cazale all had phenomenal performances, as well as the rest of the characters.  

In the end I would recommend all three of these movies to people that can handle emotional, artistic and long movies such as these three are.  The Vietnam War is an important time in U.S. history, and movies  are an important part to carry the memory of it to younger generations.  I believe long after the remaining Vietnam Veterans pass away, teenagers to movie critics alike will come back to watch these three incredible films.