The French Plantation Sequence FINALLY Explained | Ep19 | Making Apocalypse Now

Comments · 1.4K

• TH

  @thelastperfectman4139 · 2 years ago

  I really love the French Plantation scene; it feels like an encounter with phantoms—literally the phantoms of Vietnam’s history.

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• MR

  @MrJukebox4me · 2 years ago

  In 1965 I was an American army advisor to a Vietnamese infantry battalion. We were located about 40 miles north of Saigon in a small outpost surrounded by dense forest and some rubber.. There were several French rubber plantations in the area. One Sunday my army boss, myself and several other Americans were invited to the one of the plantations for a Sunday afternoon. We   had to wear civilian clothes, and show no visible weapons. Our Vietnamese drivers had to stay with the vehicles just inside the plantation gate. Going through the gates of the plantation was like stepping into another world. Young people were splashing around a swimming pool, ladies in cocktail dresses sitting around tables while Vietnamese waiters in white jackets offered them cocktails. We were served a fantastic meal, served with an assortment of fine wines. As evening approached we knew we needed to leave and make out way back to our base. This we did with incident. We all assumed the French plantation owner paid the Viet Cong to leave us alone that Sunday. I was back in Vietnam in 2019, The French are still there.

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• PO

  @PolishGod1234 · 2 years ago

  I see the whole scene as a dream of the boat crew. Everything looks so shiny, there is good food and peace. It starts and ends in a fog, like it wasn't actualy real.

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• RI

  @risinbison1106 · 2 years ago

  “You are fighting for the biggest nothing in history”. My favorite line in the movie.

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• AD

  @Advent3546 · 2 years ago

  Telling Coppola they don't need extras but keeping a small troop of extras out of his view just in case is a really funny microcosm of this production.

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• TR

  @travismiles5885 · 2 years ago (edited)

  When I saw Apocalypse Now, with the French Plantation scene put back in, it gave me a Hotel California vibe. I can see why they cut it for theatrical release but it does really add a layer of madness to the movie. It's Kubrick's Odyssey.

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• DA

  @davidkennerly · 2 years ago

  Chef speaks French because he is a Cajun from Louisiana, not because he studied to become a saucier.

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• MI

  @mike.saigon · 2 years ago (edited)

  I love how the Frenchman in the cut scene says that up the river are the &quot;moi&quot;, which in Vietnamese translates to &quot;savages&quot; (a very derogatory term). This was and still is reality. The ethnic minorities like the Bru still hunted with bows and arrows when the Green Berets started working with them against the Northern forces (famously exemplified by the MACV-SOG on the Ho Chi Minh trail).<br>Having been living in Vietnam for a decade, I&apos;ve had the opportunity to meet some of the remaining minorities, however in a more peaceful context.

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• RU

  @rufust.firefly6352 · 2 years ago

  My main takeaway from the Redux version of these plantation scenes was a conversation that Roxanne and Willard had -- Willard said after the war was over, he wasn&apos;t going back. &nbsp;That changes a lot of the tone of Willard&apos;s journey in the remainder of the movie, IMHO.

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• MI

  @michaelfontana4689 · 2 years ago

  The plantation scene is entirely necessary IMO. If you look at the story just through the perspective of moving up-river in a constant battle against the environment, it might seem out of place, but for me, it was the perfect moment to pull back and remind the crew and audience of the futility and misdirection of the war effort in the context of previous historical failures. It sits at the back of your mind as the final part of the film unfolds.

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• RO

  @romeoortegaiii2299 · 2 years ago (edited)

  This scene (The French Plantation) was in the original release in The Philippines before it was ever released in the USA 🇺🇸.<br>My girlfriend Florencia and I saw the film in Olongapo City Subic Bay 1979.

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• KV

  @KvasirBlut · 2 years ago

  I actually met Aurore Clément some months ago in a small cinéma in Paris for the projection of Lacombe Lucien during a Louis Malle rétrospective. Still a very élégant, simple and nice person. She was perfect for the rôle in the french plantation, solemn and ethereal. Btw &nbsp;this Making Apocalypse Now série is excellent, one of a kind.

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