Rise of the Vietnam War Film
Vietnam films really took off in the angst ridden climate of late seventies America. It was a subject that had been implied in earlier films (normally to avoid censorship by claiming allegorical status) but, save for the tub-thumping Green Berets, it was only after the US had retreated from the country that the genre became established. Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon have long been considered the cream of the genre, each approaching the war from a different perspective. Later in the cycle A Bullet in the Head came from a different continent and with a fresh view of the casualties of conflict.
John Woo’s A Bullet in the Head
By the time he made A Bullet in the Head, John Woo was one of Hong Kong’s most internationally acclaimed directors. The film follows a group of friends who flee Hong Kong to Vietnam with terrifying consequences. Woo's study of three friends growing up together and apart has parallels in both Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter and also in Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America. We are introduced to them in true Woo style - seamlessly blending Christian children’s drawings, dance, violence and the oft reprieved theme I'm A Believer. This bubblegum song approach is entirely in keeping with the fableistic nature of the narrative and Woo manages to ring out every emotion.
In fact the more grandiose the premise becomes the more affecting the emotional response, a complete opposite to the 'suspension of disbelief' bypass required for more mainstream films. This has the effect of making the work operatic in scale and emotion as it dispatches conventional realism for emotional, heroic and mythological realism. The sheer pathos of the proceedings is occasionally overpowering.
The Meaning of A Bullet in the Head
The 'Bullet in the Head' of the title has a number of meanings; initially it reflects the friends first experience in Vietnam - a terrorist bombing followed by a public execution, shot like contemporary news footage. As the film progresses the titular statement becomes alternately blurred and then clear until the true meaning is revealed in all its tragedy. What is refreshing is that the political angle of the film is never overstated but never compromised, the politics are secondary to the emotional narrative and better for it. Instead of being ranted at about the injustice of either side we are shown the mess, the chaos, the uncertainty. No-one escapes the films savage indictment of war
Three Brothers – Fraternity in A Bullet in the Head
The main point of reference is Tony Leung Chi Wai's character, clearly the most stable and normal of the three, if anyone should make it alive it should be Tony. However, one of the friends turns out to be a self-centred capitalist of the most treacherous variety - Waise Lee wild-eyes his way through the role with maniacal gusto, a man possessed by greed to pathological degrees, at one point he'd rather be shot at whilst drowning to save as much gold as possible. Jackie Cheung Hok Yau takes the third pivotal character- to see this naive character deteriorate into drug aided psychosis, mental instability and deprivation is moving and very difficult to watch.
Reaction to A Bullet in the Head
A Bullet in the Head was not a commercial success. After making it Woo turned to the lighter comic tone of Once a Thief and eventually went on to make bigger budget Hollywood films. It is unlikely that such an epic, expansive, emotional and visceral film will see the light of day.
