CineTV Contest : My Deserted Island Pick

This week’s @cinetv contest had me doing a decent amount of contemplation over the last few days about the power of movies and how intimately we can know them if given the chance. The reason I began falling down the immense rabbit hole of this tangent of thought was because I was placed in a very similar situation as the contest and my affinity for the two movies I had available transcended anything I may have encountered with these two movies under normal circumstances.

In the mid 90s, I temporarily moved to South America for some work projects. I initially was based out of Guyana and eventually moved over to Suriname. The movie situation in Guyana was extremely dire for me as there were only in person theaters available to me and they were un-airconditioned and not anything close to what I was accustomed to. Of course, this did not stop me from going. The other issue was they only offered 3-4 hour long Bollywood movies or a double feature of older American movies. I, however, came to love this sweltering experience and remember fondly hours upon hours of sweating profusely, drinking room temperature beer as I watched such Bollywood classics as King Uncle and 1942: A Love Story (I can hear their theme songs in my head as I type this lololol).

Now we flash forward about a year and I moved over to Suriname, where I had access to 24 hour electricity and the house we rented came furnished with a television and VCR. The only issue is that the only two movies I had with me on VHS was Tombstone and Desperado. And while these are decent movies, I wouldn’t consider either of them the top movies of all time by any stretch of the imagination. So, that leads me down the above mentioned rabbit hole. Due to circumstances limiting me to only two movies for a period of about 9 months, I became so intimately familiar with them to a depth and degree that would have been impossible in any other normal situation.

There is a level of understanding of a film that only comes through the arduous inclination to watch them over and over and over and over until the actual tape begins to fray inside the VHS cassette. I’m talking about watching the same two movies, sometimes multiple times a day, for months on end. You become so in tune with the rhythms and cadence of that film, it becomes a part of you in some way. If you think you know a few lines of your favorite film, try the intimate relationship of knowing every line of the entire movie…….of knowing the exact wrinkled brow of the next query of a character and the painful expression of the answer given by another character. It reminded me of the sacred oral histories of our ancient families who passed down stores by word of mouth, night after night, throughout the generations. You know every scene and how it was framed. You pick up on the slightest inflection of tone and menacing smirk of the villain. The familiar quotes that seem random and mundane to others sound as if a family member is whispering in your ear. The words have weight, feeling, and pure emotions as you have explored every conceivable connotation of each phrase to better understand this movie, your friend.

THAT is the relationship I now have with these two movies. And, although they are not my favorite movies, they will forever hold a sacred spot in my soul as we became joined over that time period, we became the union of flesh and celluloid. I have an entire vocabulary that was forged through the persistent viewing of these films. I only wish I had the time and resources to explore more films to the deepest, intimate level that I did these two.

Now that I’ve poured out my soul about that time of my life, I guess I should actually address the topic of the contest….lolololol

There are so many, many worthy titles to choose from if you only had one movie on a deserted island. This is as hard as picking your favorite movie for a cinephile, because so many movies have moved me in so many powerful ways. Some of my best friends and darkest enemies live on the silver screen. Film and television was as influential to who I am today as my parents and upbringing!

That being said, I always return to a handful of really great films when confronted with this type of dilemma. Almost unhindered the first movie that enters my mind’s eye upon contemplation of such a scenario is Apocalypse Now by Coppola. For me, this movie embodies so much of the lifesource of what a good story is and it is expertly executed through the cinematography, script interpretation, and even the soundtrack. In my opinion, this is the ultimate film and has kept me entertained on a regular basis for decades and there is no reason to believe it would not continue to do so as my only option. The character representation by the choses actors was phenomenal and the juxtaposition between Sheen as Willard and Brando as Kurtz is something only captured in those ancient tomes such as The Iliad or The Epic of Gilgamesh. It is as timeless and eternal as our souls and the ever-present conflict between darkness and light. And so revealing in the truth that the distance between good and evil, darkness and light, is but a few mere steps!

For these reasons and a myriad of others, I would choose Apocalypse Now as my deserted island movie choice.

Thanks again to @caulderfreeman for an epic contest topic this week and for being the steward to a fantastical mental journey within myself and the nature of film under inspection! Thank you all for reading and remember that each of you deserves to be loved as much as I love Apocalypse Now! lololol

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter,
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
-Tolkien