this is a twice-told tale

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2006)

Perhaps I missed this in other comments, but I have not seen anyone recognize the fact that this movie is a film version a novel. Titled Heart of Darkness, it is set in Dutch-controlled Colonial Africa. The book was written in the late 1800's, I think. Most of the characters are the same, just tweaked a little bit. Thought you all would enjoy this bit of trivia.
Kurz is in the book, too. He even says "The horror...the horror." Coppolla's work is awesome, considering that he has fantastically translated that book into a Vietnam-war movie. The fact that he was able to use the same characters, and some of the same words is amazing, and that he completely switched the time and place from traveling up the Congo in the 1800's to Vietnam is a phenomenal piece of work.
Apocalyse Now proves that a director who follows his own instinct will make a masterpiece, rather than a director who will kneel down to voices from the big studio. Sure, many scenes seem too "fantastic" or "unreal", but isn't that the point--to get us thinking about western domination over the 3rd world? Just a thought.