It's giddy and erratic, like a mission fulfilled. Compared to JFK , Hearts of Darkness seems almost subtle. Which is not to say that it is any less delirious, desperate, or self-delusional. The difference is that it presents Coppola as the Star of his own mess, a white man who is too big, overbearing, and fretful to disguise in any heroic trapping. The result is a text determined to undo itself.
Hearts opens with Coppola on top.
My film is not about Viet Nam. It is Viet Nam. Talk about fucking with history. Eleanor Coppola's reserved and weary voice-over and the general tenor of the film imply that Francis Coppola is a kind of whacked out genius, a visionary revisionist who is beset by weather, financial crises, and sick and difficult actors. The movie leans heavily on this personal crisis plotline.