"He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible which is also detestable."

Rating: 8/10 (19 April 2003)

Apocalypse Now is not a conventional film and it makes no attempts to be one. Do not sit down and expect to see a 2 hour film with a structure to it because you'll be disappointed. The movie lurches along with action scenes interspersed into moments of psycological reflection. And then some simply inexplicable scenes.
Overall, the pace of the movie is fairly slow. Coppola breaks all the rules of conventional film making with the movie opening with no titles and shots throughout the movie of up to 2 minutes. However, in the context of the film it works well. These men aren't normal people and Vietnam isn't a normal place and the film reflects this. Through the narration of Sheen's character, Captain Willard, we get an insight into the human mind and how it reacts to such adverse conditions. Like Marlow in Conrad's novella, we follow the psycological change of the protagonist as though it is our own.
The disappointment of the film is Brando's character, Colonel Kurtz. Although a lunatic he is obviously a man of surreal intellect yet on screen little of this is developed. An attempt is made, through Kurtz's discourses to analyse his mind but it isn't done anywhere near as well as with Sheen's character. Having said that, in some ways this just reinforces the idea that men can sometimes get so lost within their own little world that those outside of them couldn't possibly understand them and perhaps this was what Coppola wished to portray.
Overall, Apocalypse Now is an interesting look at the workings of the human mind in an adverse environment and also an interesting interpretation of Conrad's classic novella. There is some excellent photography throughout the film and despite its length it does manage to retain attention through most of the movie.
8/10