World War II does not require a formal introduction. The worldwide conflict claimed approximately 75 million lives from 1939 to 1945, and its ramifications continue to affect the nations involved decades later, especially on a cultural level. As the country infamous for dropping two atomic bombs on a pair of Japanese cities—a choice that ended the war—the United States’ fraught relationship with World War II has been marked by an incalculable amount of controversy both in defense of and opposing the decision to deploy nuclear weapons as a means to conclude the conflict between Axis and Allied forces.
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Although the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki functions as an essential cornerstone of Erik Nelson’s war documentary “Apocalypse ’45,” the film itself does not adopt a definitive stance on the matter. Rather, the film documents the final year of World War II from the perspective of veterans who fought in the Pacific War and explores the omnipresent shadow that lingers over those affected by violence. Specifically, alongside its rumination on the influential effects of violence and dehumanization, cultural manipulation—figures of power exploiting those in lower social standing—serves as a notable tenet of the documentary.
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Structurally, “Apocalypse ‘45” avoids the clichéd format associated with traditional documentaries. Instead, Nelson centralizes the film’s focus on digitally restored war footage filmed by frontline combat photographers, a creative choice that roots the experience in facing the harsh realities of war without any reprieve. As the collection of 24 U.S. veterans reminisce on their combat experiences, the audience is greeted with horrific images of hellish landscapes, mangled corpses, and shell-shocked infants. By presenting World War II at its least polished and most brutal, “Apocalypse ’45” lives up to its title—it’s a nightmare of destruction and heartbreak.
Accompanied by David Hughes’ effective sound design and Mark Leggett’s atmospheric score, “Apocalypse ‘45” emanates the sensation of traveling through a veteran’s long-repressed memories—fragmented, hazy images of carnage flash, accompanied by the dissonant reverberations of gunfire. With a rugged, unobtrusive demeanor, Nelson’s documentary captures the haunting horrors of war with unfiltered brutality; the film’s sinister quietude strengthens the jarring sensation of jumping from beachheads to cockpits to aircraft carriers, almost as if the viewer is hopping between the minds of countless different soldiers and civilians at random intervals.
Likewise, the interviews with the veterans offer psychological insight to offset the blunt shock of the frontline footage but still retain the documentary’s tragic emotional undercurrent. Sadness, regret and denial interweave throughout the confessionals. Violence marks them all. “Later on, you find out as you get older that the bad guys were not bad,” says Nazarath Sinanian, a sergeant in the Army Air Corps who participated in the firebombing of Tokyo. “They were just doing what they had to do. Somebody told them that they had to do it…They just had to do what the idiots that started the war told them to do.”
However, “Apocalypse ‘45” embodies a significant share of setbacks that rob the doc from achieving greatness. While the film’s nontraditional formatting contributes to its unsettling atmosphere, expositional title cards carry much of the narrative momentum, which leads to a semi-episodic, repetitive collection of events rather than a cohesive piece. In addition, the fragmented, non-linear framework—in which the audience jumps back-and-forth throughout the Pacific War—similarly deprives “Apocalypse ‘45” from coalescing into a seamless whole.
Still, in the wake of global turmoil, the documentary carries an eerie weight to its showcase of civilization at its worst; the film is a fire-filled, battle-scarred vision of the world seen through the eyes of young men forced to venture into a world split apart by conflict and hate. If “Apocalypse ’45” offers any insight into current events, it serves as a timely reminder that some history should never be repeated and that listening to the past can prevent actions that might catalyze irreparable consequences in the future. [B]
“Apocalypse ’45” is a Discover/Abramorama film and is available in limited release and VOD now.