April 1, 2023: Apocalypse Now（地獄の黙示録）　

Last weekend, I watched the film "Apocalypse Now - Final Cut" on WOWOW. It was a feature-length film that ran for about three hours. It was so spectacular that I was captivated by the strange footage from the beginning. I never got bored with it. The film tells the story of Martin Sean, who goes up a river flowing through Vietnam to search Marlon Brando. The time is during the Vietnam War, and he sees a lot of soldiers who have gone mad as he goes up the river. One of them is a commander. He makes his subordinates surf while bombs are raining down on them. And there are other crazy soldiers. They flock to Playmates who have visited the front line to entertain soldiers. The scenes show me there is no way to know what people might do when they are desperate.
In fact, it was the second time I had watched the film. It was about forty years ago that I had first watched it. If I remember correctly, I must have watched it at the Kyoto La Scala cinema, a film theatre. I still remember well that I bought a special ticket to watch it. At that time, the film attracted me as much as it did the second time. And I sat through for three hours without a break.
"Deer Hunter" and this film are two of the best films I have ever seen.

　先日WOWOWで放映された映画「地獄の黙示録　ファイナル・カット」を見ました。3時間を超える長編で、見ごたえがありました。最初から、独特の映像に引き込まれ、飽きることはありませんでした。映画では、マーチンシーンがベトナム戦争の中、カンボジアの奥地に住むマーロンブランドを追って川を遡ります。その途中で、数々の狂乱状態にある兵士に出会います。爆弾が降り注ぐ中、部下にサーフィンさせる中佐がいるかと思うと、兵士を慰問するために前線を訪れたプレイメイトに群がり、狂乱兵士もいます。その狂乱ぶりに度肝を抜かされます。人間は追い込まれると何をするかわからない生き物だとつくづく思いました。
　この映画を見るのは、実は、2度目です。初めて見たのは40年近く前の学生の時です。確か、京都のスカラ座で見た気がします。この時も、今回と同様、3時間、休憩なしでこの映画に引き込まれました。この映画と同じベトナム戦争を題材としたディアー・ハンターは、ボクが見た映画で傑作の部類です。

地獄の黙示録 - Wikipedia