The Horror; the Horror of man!

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2001)

*Note: This is a review of the original Apocalypse Now released in 1979, not the 2001 "Re-Dux", contains some mild SPOILERS*
Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now is the last great film of the seventies, it's also sadly Coppola's last masterpiece, and only 1983's Rumble Fish has come close to the genius of Apocalypse. Coppola's lose adaptation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness looks at how far one man can be pushed, how power corrupts, and most importantly the influence of darkness on normally sane people. As our hero's in the patrol boat make their way further down river, the grip of Kurtz becomes clearer, the men stop being a unit and begin thinking for themselves, I use the scene when the Vietnamese villagers on the boat are massacred because the chief wants the boat searched, at this point they realise, even if they wanted to turn back they couldn't. The character of Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando acts as a metaphor, he represents the darkness in all of us, so when Willard finally encounters him, he cannot kill him, because actively he would be killing part of himself. It's this power play at the end of the film by Willard and Kurtz that makes Apocalypse Now the film it is, Coppola hides Brando in the shadows, making him seem more mythic, an enigma. There are so many more classic moments in the film, the attack on the village by helicopters, the opening sequences scored to The Doors... But it's the ending in which the ideology of the film becomes clear, Kurtz, much like Willard is just a man, who needs Willard, not even allowing him to feel the satisfaction of his duties. Coppola creates a tense and stark atmosphere, he shoots the surreal landscapes as though he where shooting a horror film, the washed out colours and dark shadows, evoking memories from the classic black and white noir of the fifties, it also must be grouped with Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) as one of the films to inspire the "look" of every 80's MTV video. I won't say any more about the film because everybody should be able to interpret the film as they want, all I can say is that it's a true classic, in every way...
9/10