One of the Best Films Ever Made -

Rating: 10/10 (18 September 2006)

This movie blew me away when i first saw it in 1979. I've seen it many times since then but the last time had been a 10 year gap until i bought the "complete dossier" DVD for 15 bucks. I had forgotten just what a truly stunning movie it is - visually, dramatically, and in many other ways - it truly is an artistic triumph in my view. Somehow Coppola's vision ultimately morphed itself into a movie that was both a pro- and anti-war statement at the same time...but i believe the basic moral might be something on the lines of absolute power corrupting absolutely, etc.
It only comes undone just a little near the end; when Captain Willard finally reaches Kurtz's jungle compound. From this point on the movie becomes slightly comic bookish, if anything, and seems obviously written by someone who's never been in the military let alone been at war. I realize this isn't supposed to be a documentary or something but at some points it becomes senseless. (And it didn't help the film much when Brando himself became difficult to work with, and even insisted on improvising all his lines!)
However all is redeemed and made whole at the point when Willard finally kills Kurtz with a sickle, (while intercut is footage of natives slaughtering a buffalo with a sword, symbology of the most blatant kind), appears at the top of Temple Ruins holding Kurtz's notes for which Kurtz has asked him to be the bearer...and all Kurtz's Montagnard troops kneel before him as if acknowledging him as their new leader...this part is truly chilling and one of the profound moments in film history... Anyway I bought the DVD because i knew i will continue to watch this excellent and profound movie from time to time, for the rest of my life. Film as art, yes indeed, Coppola succeeded admirably with this one. It's safe to say, there will never be another movie quite like Apocalypse Now.