War is horror

Rating: 5/10 (19 July 2013)

Apocalypse Now does not make much sense to analyze with Story Charts because it's not really a movie. It's a piece of historical social commentary on the non-nonsensical nature of war by showing us a collage of scenes that outline the ridiculousness and craziness of war.
You can see this on the Story Chart: there is no Internal Change for anyone (Willard starts out dazed and broken, and he ends up the same way). There is no Relationship change. There is just the external quest of the mission to kill Kurtz by going up river (seems like a metaphor for some sort of mindless journey). And an illustrative tapestry of crazy scenes you find along the way.
The movie does not PROVE the central idea that "War is horror", it just shows us the effects of war. That's why to me it's not a real movie, just a series of muddled situations that is somehow supposed to mirror the craziness of war. It shows us as opposed to making us feel the central idea by seeing a tight story propelled by the choices of the characters. Sure the scenery is memorable and the situations weird and unforgettable, but so is a National Geographic article.
My Story Chart of the movie is at storycharts.ca