a tale of a world teetering on the edge of Darkness

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2013)

In film it's a very rare occurrence – thus highly sort after, that a film can possess the holy trinity of a combination of a; great script, a legendary director and an almost god like actor. But such is the elusive nature of this endeavour, it never has quite has been attained in the history of film – well that's before a certain masterpiece going by the name of Apocalypse now graced our screens with this almost mythical alliance of this magnitude. The director: Francis Ford Coppola (Godfather trilogy). The story: a tale of a world teetering on the edge of Darkness almost ready to descent into primal madness, as Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) has to navigate his way through hell on earth to find and kill AWOL Col. Kurtz (The actor:) Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront and Godfather 1) - whose very name is translated into greatness in almost every language known to man. The epic tale of this coming together will probably never happen again or would even have another three components assembled that will ever parallel it. So it something to be marvelled at, as you sits down in your comfortable chair to watch such a spectacle.
It has been widely reported from a variety of different sources about the hardship endured by the production team. Such as shooting in a country notorious for typhoons, even at one time the place they were story the film burnt down, but luckily it remained safe, and the little fact that the main character Martin sheen was a supposed alcoholic, and would turn up on set with hangovers. All this helps to perpetuate the legend that is apocalypse now, and the irony that they were facing their own war, just at the same time they were filming it.
But what I love most in film, is when bold story and director hold up a mirror to society, penetrating through the shards and illusions of morality and believing that we are able to distinguish between good vs. Evil as if it was between black and white, that we like to delude ourselves with every day, but then when we enter the battlefield it seems our civilised selves gets left behind as lines get blurred. And that is what Apocalypse now does best, it blurs the line. And with lines blurred it not a surprised that the main characters go insane, pretty much anyone would, in the face of a world that turns the world you lived and knew upside down.
But my only criticism of film, is the focus of the film, I feel it waved far too much into the obsession of Martin Sheen's character as he tries to find Marlon Brando, when I feel that they could have taken time aside to explore the war from the perspective of the other men accompanying him on his journey, particularly Laurence Fishbuornes character who was just 17, so it would have been interesting to hear things from a black boy fighting in a white man's war.
It obvious my stance on the film, that I believe is must see for all, but if the first paragraph wasn't enough to persuade you into watching Apocalypse now, here is another, I would go as far as to say that Vittorio Storaro cinematography was as if watching a walking and talking Picasso piece, such was the extent of the visual art mastery he conjured up in Apocalypse Now, as if he were the offspring of Gandalf and Dumbledore. The final few scenes with Marlon Brando were simply captivating, short but sweet. Vittorio Storaro's blending of darkness and shimmers of light streaking across Brando's face was simply breathtaking, giving Brando an almost god like aura. The scene itself probably belongs hanged up on a wall in the Tate Modern as much as it deserves to be on a film screen. The benchmark for all to follow.