The insanity of war.

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2000)

As you watch Apocalypse Now, you catch a glimpse of the true nature of war, and the darkness of the human soul. Captain Willard is ordered to kill Colonel Kurtz, because he's gone insane and fighting the war his way. As Willard ventures up the river, we get closer and closer to the insanity of war. Colonel Kilgore attacks a village with The Ride of the Valkyries in the name of surfing. A Playmate review is dropped into the middle of nowhere and sex starved soldiers go crazy. A routine boat inspection turns into a nightmare and the Do Long Bridge shows the futility of protecting something that looks good on paper. Once Willard arrives at Kurtz's compound, we begin to question what we've been told. Is Kurtz insane, or is it the other way around? Perhaps Kurtz is the only one thinking clearly. We've seen things that do not fit into what we would think in a war. A war brings out the insanity in the human soul. The one pure action throughout this insanity is the sacrifice of the caribou. Cut together with the termination of Kurtz, we see the meaning of Kurtz's words. Apocalypse Now is not an easy film to comment on. It takes time to examine, dissect, and reconstruct the film in order to come to a conclusion on what the film means to each viewer. A great film from Francis Ford Coppola that keeps getting better, and more challenging with each passing year.