Spectacular and fascinating movie about a journey leading to horror

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2005)

The picture talks about the captain Willard (Martin Sheen) who tells the story , he is assigned for a special mission : Kill Kurtz (Marlon Brando) , American general highly decorated who the army officers (Harrison Ford , G.D. Spradlin) believe has gone murderer and nut . Willard joins to misfit crew (Albert Hall , Sam Bottons , Frederic Forest, Larry Fishburne) make a risked and dangerous journey up river towards Cambodia . They'll find a mad marine captain (Robert Duval) fond of surf , playboy bunnies and French military and a civil group (Christian Marquand and Aurore Clement) living lonely on a plantation since Dien Bien Phu defeat (1954) . The travel is dangerously developed until the fateful meeting with Kurtz .
Its a stunning and absorbing story that is based on Joseph Conrad novel : ¨the heart of the darkness¨ . The travel is narrated as a surrealist odyssey leading to the dreadful and horrible final but when the protagonists find General Kurtz the scenarios are darkest and gloomiest . Martin Sheen had a heart attack during the filming and some shots of Willard's back are of doubles , including Sheen's brother Joe Estevez who was flown out specially . The storyline by John Milius tackles issues of ethics and morality and the horror war . In 2001 was realized a ¨redux¨ , a new reediting adding footage , the episode of the playmates and the French people encounters , where there are a lot of nudism and is a bit boring but is pretty dialog and little action . This new edition is today considered to be the official version . Originally scheduled to be shot over six weeks , ended up taking 16 months . The movie in spite of the passed time is still powerful and astounding . Colorful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is spellbound and breathtaking , he won an Oscar , a very well deserved Academy Award . Carmine Coppola musical score and time songs are atmospheric and exceptional . The picture was perfectly directed by Francis Ford Coppola , pacing with great sensitivity and artistic ambition . Rating: Above average . Awesome.