Heart of Darkness

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2007)

The film is considered to be the most remarkable account of the experiences in the Vietnam war and one of the best war movies ever. It tells the story of Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart Of Darkness" of an American officer, who gets the order to ride up the Mekong and liquidate an outrageous colonel. On his journey he witnesses the annihilation of the Vietnamese society, while the American army collectively degenerates into madness, absurdity, and horror. Because of that experience the officer becomes aware of the reasons of the American defeat. The movie shows the Vietnam war as a collective experience of the evil within the scope of the wide crusade against communism.
"Apocalypse Now" is a film that works on so many different levels. On the one side, it is a completely new valuation of the role of the USA in the Vietnam war, its goals and the way how the war was fought. On the other side, it is a very personal movie which is realistic in its presentation of the futility of war. The viewer dwells into the story and still is reminded of what you always have to remember: That war means hell and horror and must be prevented at all events.