The Heart of Immense Darkness

Rating: 10/10 (19 September 2017)

I'd like to get this out of the way, Apocalypse Now is not a film. Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 adventure, war epic transcends the medium of film and even storytelling itself, and becomes something else. What it is, I'm still not entirely sure; a statement on the war in Vietnam, a descent into utter madness, a degradation of civilized humans into their primal selves? It is all of these things and somehow, none of them. All i can say with certainty is that it is the single greatest statement on human nature i have ever seen.
Apocalypse Now stars Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard, a US army veteran living in Saigon, who's experiences in Vietnam have fundamentally changed him as a person. Willard is given a mission from the higher ups in the Army, to travel upriver, from Vietnam into Cambodia.
A Green Beret Colonel named Kurtz,played by Marlon Brando, appears to have lost his mind fighting in the war and has led the rest of his unit, along with a number of local tribesman, deep into the jungle. There he resides as their "God".
As Willard travels upriver, his journey becomes a dreamlike nightmare, consisting of surreal and haunting sights that force Willard and the others on the boat to confront their own nature as humans.
The film has the best Cinematography i have ever seen in a film, with beautiful yet disturbing visuals and superb sound design. All actors give excellent performances, especially Sheen, Brando, and Robert Duvall who plays the flamboyant and ruthless Colonel Kilgore.
Apocalypse Now is both my personal favorite film of all time, as well as, in my opinion, the greatest film ever made. This film should be required viewing for all, you owe it to yourself to watch it.