An incredible masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2006)

If you haven't watched this masterpiece yet, you missed one of the deepest experiences that a movie could provide. This movie is about war, about politics, about the beauty and the horror, about the human nature in itself. Many have written extensively about it, so I will rather comment on one certain issue:
The Redux version:
Whilst there exist almost only negative comments about it, I think it is even better then the original. The Redux version has been released many years after the original and contains 49 minutes of new footage (taken from the original materials). Coppola explained, he felt the necessity of making this version. Mainly for the fact, that the original version was cut in an atmosphere of extreme pressure and desperation (read about the making if you don't know why). They cut the huge amounts of material to some simple format, leaving out scene after scene in the desperate attempt to make sense of something that could not make one certain sense. The Redux version was meant to give the original some of the hectically cut out footage back.
The new scenes contain nothing that would change the story or meaning of the old movie, instead they either continue the story parts in more details or open up completely new scenes. There is the continuation of the famous Playmate scene for example, showing the perversion and insanity that briefly shines through in the original when the soldiers are heading for the playmate stage. The logical continuation takes place when Captain Willard and company meet the playmates stranded further up the river, being delivered to their goodwill.
Then there are some small additions, like a really intense close up of Marlon Brando, whose acting in this movie is legendary! You will hardly find anything to criticize about these small additions, you could perhaps argue about the changes in background music, but this is mainly a question of individual taste, since the spirit of the music did hardly change. Its still a psychedelic mix of synthesizer sounds and music by the doors.
Now other things, like the rather infamous scene on the French plantation, leave more room for debates. This scene, which was completely left out from the original, opens up a new story part, taking place on a French plantation. In my opinion, this scene added much to the movie's atmosphere, fitting perfectly into its beautiful psychedelic style. Also it was making even clearer that this movie is not simply about war: "There are two of you, don't you see ? One that kills and one that loves." This is exactly general Kurtz's dilemma: being caught in a world of insane double morality, looking for a way to find a "true" way of acting, Kurtz finally decides to break out by choosing his role as murder, by abandoning the role of jurisdiction in his (a)moral world. At the same time this sentence points to an even deeper conflict inside human nature or the world itsself: The existence of unimaginable horror and beauty next to each other. The desperate situation everyone faces who gets to see both.
Overall, the new scenes do not contain anything that would really change the old movie (whilst there was hardly anything removed from it), whilst in my opinion they add much to it. The movie is longer, it has an even more epic character and becomes an even more breath taking psychedelic trip trough the dark corners of human nature and morality. If you really hate the Redux version, ask yourself why exactly. I think it is pure perfection, as long as you don't judge it simply for the fact that it is a changed version of one of the best movies ever made. Enjoy.