"An intellectual war between the two faces of horror"

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2002)

Let me start just by saying this: `Apocalypse Now' is one of the best films of all time, and definitely the best war film I've seen. Its bizarre apocalyptic power outguns most war films. Thanks to those satiric and yet very violent moments of insanity that show us the horrors of war in a more generally universal kind of way. We are given the chance to understand (a maybe vague) but the most realistic vision of what war really is, how it afects people? and, most importantly why does it exist?
The story: a warcoholic captain by the name of Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen), who is sent on a (suicide?) mission up the Nung river to slaughter a renegade-green baretta colonel named Walter E. Kurtz, who has lost any kind of sanity on his desperate and tortured soul, fighing his own private war on the matrix of the horrors of war. Willard is sent on a navy PBR boat with a bunch of other American soldiers, that where sent to help him; although this would end on a futile effort to improve the mission, since every character on the boat literally becomes (on his behavior) what they really think of war, while they are entering deeply into the Nung river, deeply into the last level of insanity a man can really take.
The writing: John Milius's and Francis Ford Coppola's writing is amazing by not saying that its perfect. Since their screenplay was based on the book `Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad, and wonderfully translated on the Vietnam War. In other words: the satiric feel that is attached to the film is thanks to his great script, which also, has taken many multi-dimensional feelings and ideas on it, that pinpoint the ridiculous idea that war is (in an intelligent and dark way). And that's basically (in fact, only a glimpse) the brilliance that is brought by the script of Coppola and Milius. Another positive point on the script, is the great narration by Michael Herr, which helps the film in visualizing how men really think during war, and why do men worship it (I really don't want to spoil much, but I felt that any person that has not seen this film should know this). Still Herr's writing skills cannot be matched by what Milius and Coppola bring us to screen (especially check out the Col. Kurtz monologue about his philosophies on war).
The directing: Coppola's direction is breathtaking, as he literally brings `an intellectual horror film' into a war whose only objective was to reach a level of madness, in order for one side to win. Anyway, he constantly uses superb symbolism: showing the characters into shadows, excellent editing that points out what exactly is going on with each of the characters minds and what they went through (especially check out the beginning showing the war on Willard's mind while playing `The End' performed by The Doors). In other words, Coppola creates a truthful atmosphere with a horrorific vision of what really happens in war. Another addition to the direction would be the sound that this movie expresses, everything hears realistically and as detailed as possible, everything comes to life, in order to give us (as I said before) a creepy atmosphere and also a description on how the characters feel. If you watch this film again and again, you will connect some sounds to what the characters are saying (Well, I hope is not my imagination, anyhow, the film has a different interpretation on most individuals).
The acting: Well... what can I say? Its... unreal. Martin Sheen gives us his best performance ever, he literally brings to life his character with suffocating and observating looks, a narration that philosophies on war, and with a thinking: of pour hope of life in this world. Marlon Brando (although not wanting to cooperate totally in the project) still gives us a fascinating piece on acting performance. His tortured expressions and voice acting are magnificent and fits perfectly on our visualization of someone gone completely insane by the horrors of war (THIS AIN'T NO SPOILER). But the one that steals the whole film is got to be Robert Duval playing his legendary character Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore. Duval shouts and speaks like if everything is just fine, he tries to make of war as a whole big joke, and that is why this character is that famous, because the result is a moving satiristic performance that shows the audiences: innocent people getting killed, and yet we don't even care. But Duval's performance is so tremendously great... that he isn't scary, he isn't completely bad (alright he is... kind of wacko)... he's none of that... but he ironically makes you laugh. And that is a fact. Phrases like `I love the smell of napalm in the morning', `Charlie don't surf', and `Any man brave enough to have his guts out he can drink from my canteen any day' are classic, in fact almost every word spilled out by the mouth of Duval in this film, is immortal.
All in all, `Apocalypse Now' is one of those motion pictures that deserve to have the title of: one of the best of all time. Masterpiece moments like the village attack with Duval in it (while some American soldiers surf on the same beach), moments like the Playboy scene which show how the government made a war gone mad, and the final scene on Kurtz compound, are just plain classic that infiltrate in our minds and point out: the dark side in every man's soul, and how it controls us by creating stupid things like: war. In a way, `Apocalypse Now' is also the most moving antiwar film, thanks to the straight message that I've just stated, and how it is given (by showing rain, fire, shadows, violence, horror, evil, insanity, etc). In fact, the message is so though provoking that (if understanded) it becomes a depressive one, because it mainly tells this: THE HORROR... THE HORROR OF WAR. And that's what the film is all about.