REDUX: The Law of the Jungle; the God of War

Rating: Null/10 (5 September 2001)

APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX has grown exponentially in substance and theme from its prior incarnation. (Possible spoilers....) If films like Platoon, Deerhunter and Full Metal Jacket appear a bit shallow in the wake of Redux, perhaps it's because Coppola's vision now transcends the Viet Nam debacle entirely, and is more concerned with the very meaning of War, like Homer's Illiad/Odyssey; and the tangible pathway to Hell, like Dante's Inferno. The Apocalypse difference being that the river Styx IS the journey (where Dante merely crosses over; where Homer crosses an ocean into battle, then strands the homeward Odysseus for 10 years). The presence of women and sex in Redux is a dramatic literary shift from Apocalypse's prior version. Where the primary mission had a near-perfect trajectory to the Kurtz malignancy, Playboy Bunnies, once a sideshow, now become mainstage Sirens. The lure of Sex becomes a palpable reminder of mortality, and the constant presence of Death. As the Frenchwoman (Aurore Clement) says, men have split themselves in two--living life paradoxically, as both warrior and lover. This is not without consequences. Unlike Homer's Odysseus, Martin Sheen's Willard is completely in control, not swayed by temptations of the journey. Or is he? Circe and the Sirens may be momentary distractions, but what exactly is waiting for him upriver? The new French Plantation scene offers an important demonstration of just how far 20th Century imperialism, colonialism and political/military misadventuring can go. It also adds an explicit, intellectual indictment, missing from version one, that can be summed up in a single line: "There was no such thing as the Viet Cong before Americans were here!" But back to the River... The journey now is longer, and Brando-Kurtz's presence looms larger than ever. So large in fact, once we get there, Kurtz's meticulous animal logic threatens to swallow Willard's mission whole. But Kurtz, having found the Law of the Jungle, having become the God of War, realizes he must pay the price of realizing such an elemental ambition. He toys with Willard; a fatal, intentional mistake. Willard completes the mission, stands on the temple's platform and wavers (feels much longer in Redux(?)). Time stops as a thousand people bow to their knees; and herein lies the dark heart of the film. Does Willard drop the machete, walk down the steps, go on playing soldier, or does he turn around, walk inside, and play God?