The movie grabbed me immediately. First because it started with a lone character. Army movies typically deal with the group. Instead, this one began with depictions of a man alone in his room, doing what men left alone typically do: self-destructing. This impression stayed with me throughout the film. Even the vessel he traveled on, full of colorful characters, was only a stepping stone to him. He was on a mission; not fighting for his country or fellow soldiers, but simply to complete his mission.
The image of the main character arriving at the shore, with an impressive crowd staring silently at him, and dead bodies hanging from branches overhead, still sticks out as one of the most haunting things I have ever seen. At this point I knew it would be surreal; my favorite quality in a movie, until it’s completion. I did not tire of the creepiness that followed. I ate up every bit of insight I could find on insanity, control, brainwashing, stockholm syndrome, violence, war, morality, and loneliness. The end was essentially expected; what wasn’t expected was the long wait for the end. It was a type of reverse suspense. Instead of not knowing the future, you became anxious for it’s arrival.
After watching a seemingly insane man babble on for a long while before the ending, the films meaning is left up to the viewer entirely. Did his rambling “poetry” state the moral of the story before he was killed? No. I believe most of the latter half of the movie is an elaborate red herring. The movie is very simple. The main character pontificates on his mission. He hangs around for days, weeks, months, or who-knows-how-long, searching for meaning or justification for his actions, but doesn’t find it. He ultimately decides that his actions are worth doing for their own sake. That is why this movie is more than just another war movie. It’s about the individual, and his self-overcoming.
2 comments:
man whats the hang-up on middle aged men lately? (Ha!) Is that a fear of your's? Being middle aged?
Also in your past three blog entries you've managed to hit on all of the things I have been thinking about lately.
-Hypocritical justice system.
-Alternative bio-fuels and certain state's taxation on for what is, for all intensive purposes, a free bi-product. Even without fossil fuels its almost impossible to escape the government's grasp on your wallet..(which was the reason fossil fuels started in the first instance-to grasp your wallet).
-The world without Carlin.
-Middle aged men who can't think unless they're able to erect a semi via a potentially deadly dose of viagra, only to manage a couple love thrusts before embarrassingly copping out...Just so they can feel better about their lives, and feel less ashamed about getting fat and having blown knees from their days as a high school linebacker and banging the prom queen a 1000 times. And then cogitating this while they are driving their automatic transmission 1993 Chevy Corvette to their mediocre office job. Rather than exploring other facets of life..
Cobe,
These recent series of blogs just made me realize how much people can learn about others by internalizing, learning about themselves and thinking for themselves. I mean you obviously had no idea I was contemplating these seemingly random/personalized issues. But by touching on universal themes you give the impression that your psychic.
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