A physiological journey through war

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2008)

Apocalypse Now is one of my favourite films and a great adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War by Coppola and Milius and under difficult circumstances and conditions there were exceptional performances by all the actors concerned. Coppola did a fantastic job capturing the whole physiological dimension of the Vietnam War, in particular, and all wars in general. The psychological and physical journey down the river, highlighting many of the aspects of the Vietnam War, including the distance of the generals from the war, commanders like Kilgore who enjoyed the war, the eccentricities and very different personalities of those involved, young inexperienced and confused soldiers, drugs, technology, the air war, the pointlessness defending of strategically unimportant places, the idea of no front lines, primitive and modern ways of fighting a war, the indigenous people of Vietnam, the politics of the war and arguments over how the war should be best fought, the conflict of ethics and civilisation, the humanitarian aspects of the war and the brutal measures adopted by both sides and a philosophical understanding of what possessed those to do what they did. The film also covers atrocities carried out by both sides, suffering of the civilians caught up in the middle of it all, and how powerless they were to avoid an acute involvement in the war. The movie also explores the idea of conditioning a soldier to go out and win battles but the difficulty of then asking him to only fight the war in a particular manner. The concept of the problem the army had with Green Berets, independent, intelligent and educated soldiers, allowed to operate on their own is also assessed. There is some disjoint in the Redux scenes, especially regarding the extra scenes involving the playboy bunnies as pointed out by some other submitters to this website. However, the French plantation scene provides a deeper insight into the war, comparing U.S. involvement with the French colonial war 1945-54, and showing the ghost like world in which the French settlers now live, neither belonging to France or Vietnam and is interesting from a post-colonial perspective. The French plantation scene also provides some continuity in the journey up the river and back in time, as Coppola wanted. There were also a couple of scenes from the 'Apocalypse Now  The Complete Dossier' which could have been including and may have cast more light on the characters in the film  'the tiger cages' scene with Kurtz and Willard and the 'Special forces knife' scene with Colby and Willard. The scene with Willard in the tiger cage while Kurtz discusses how he is prosecuting the war in a much more primitive and brutal manner in order to win at practically any cost, and Willard disagreeing gives a more in-depth insight into Kurtz and shows that Willard is not going to take the same path as Colby and join Kurtz. The scene with Colby and Willard gives a greater understanding of Colby's state of mind after he had refused to carry out his original mission and had joined Kurtz. However, he has not been completely taken over by the darker nature, and detached himself from his emotions, and he urges Willard to kill Kurtz and explain things to his wife and kids but unlike Kurtz's later request to Willard regarding his son, Colby asks Willard not to tell them everything. Although Milius sought a different ending, the ending Coppola decided on, the idea of the primal myth of death and rebirth, suggested by Denis Jakob, a friend of Coppola's was probably far more suited to the atmosphere and mood of the film.