Column: Two films you will never forget … and perhaps a third?
Though we may all enjoy cinema, sometimes a film strikes us as not just enjoyable but also powerfully profound, says writer Laurence Coupe.
It remains memorable, and we might even opt to watch it again and again. Here are three which I think have this effect.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979) is inspired by Joseph Conrad’s novel, ‘Heart of Darkness’. The narrator, Captain Willard, takes a terrifying river journey through Vietnam to Cambodia during the American war against the Vietcong – an appropriately apocalyptic context.
He is trying to locate a mysterious figure, Colonel Kurtz, whose mind has apparently been deranged by his years in the wilderness. Kurtz has become the object of native worship, and has encouraged the most barbaric practices.
The film goes beyond Conrad’s tale in that Captain Willard’s mission is the murder of a man who has set himself up as a god. Coppola draws on a hugely influential book, James George Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’, which explores ancient myth and ritual – in particular, the pattern of the dying and reviving god of vegetation. Willard’s murder of Kurtz echoes this formula with powerful effect. For more, please see my book, ‘Myth’(2 nd ed., Routledge, 2009).
My second film is Nadine Labaki’s ‘Capernaum’ (2018). A boy stands in court. He can’t say how old he is, because his birth was never registered. Medical examination has estimated his age as 12 years old.
He is currently in prison for stabbing someone he refers to as ‘a son of a bitch’, but he is here to make his own charge. He tells the judge that he wishes to sue his parents, who are also present as defendants.
The judge asks what for: ‘Because I was born,’ he replies. Does the child, Zain, have a good case? The rest of the film provides evidence for his accusation.
When Zain’s favourite sister Sahar reaches the age of 11, her parents sell her as a bride to Assad, the family’s landlord. In disgust with his parents’ defeatism, Zain runs away, and we are invited to see in dramatic detail how he manages to survive on the streets of Beirut.
While we are on the subject of great films, perhaps I might also mention Robert Bresson’s ‘Au Hasard Balthazar’ (1966). A simple plot with profound meaning, it tells the tale of a humble donkey as he is passed from owner to owner. For me, it’s one of the most important films I’ve ever seen, made by a Christian director who was clearly a genius.
If I’ve whetted your appetite, you might like to access an article I’ve written on it, which includes extracts from the film: https://www.popmatters.com/au-hasard-balthazar-robert-bresson.