Apocalypse Now (1979) Reaction

If there is one thing in the cinematic world that I love more than anything, it’s a good psychological trip. The era which Apocalypse Now was set in, as well as the time at which it was released, were both rife with this kind of experimental film-making. Filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, and Francis Ford Coppola all created many films each that exhibited this quality, psychological pervasiveness, which was arguably perfected by Coppola’s second contemporary masterpiece beside The Godfather. I am, of course, talking about 1979’s Martin Sheen and Marlin Brando-starring Apocalypse Now.

Not only is the subject of the film fascinating, in terms of its many behind-the-scenes catastrophes (including multiple above-the-line personnel heart attacks, as well as Brando’s unexpected weight gain, resulting in the unique way that his character was shot throughout the film), but it also serves as a great companion piece to one of my personal favorite novels of all time, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. On the other hand, Apocalypse Now is certainly one of my favorite films of all time. This is not only because it takes the best parts from the novel and represents them faithfully, but it also takes great artistic liberty with the novel’s framework, and pastes it into one of the most controversial American conflicts of all time: the Vietnam War. The film also makes great use of this time period, faithfully recreating the look and feel of this prolonged skirmish, as well as establishing many iconic tropes that are still used today. This includes the quote “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” the use of the song Flight of the Valkyries in battle scenes, and the famous quote (which comes from the novel) “The horror!” While many of these may seem trite and tired from the standpoint of a modern film-going audience, I still find myself marveling at the ingenuity of Coppola and his team at establishing such iconic staples of popular culture, which are still widely recognizable even today.

What this film also does incredibly well (and it is not on the surface, as everything there is astounding as well, including the acting, directing, writing, score, and cinematography, just to name a few things) is display an incredible psychological and metaphorical understanding of the human condition in times of conflict. This is something that Apocalypse Now borrows heavily from the source, but also makes its own. What Conrad says about the human condition during the Ivory Trade in the nineteenth century, Coppola says just as much about the human condition during the twentieth century’s Vietnam conflict. One such place to find this meaning is in the film’s last piece of important dialogue, which comes from Brando’s Colonel Kurtz. While he is dying (by Sheen’s character’s hand), he states “The horror! The horror!” While this can be interpreted in many ways, I believe it to be the man’s realization of his truly horrific actions, and that they would have never resulted in the future he wanted for himself and his people. Ultimately, their lives will probably be caught up (and subsequently ruined) by the United States’ involvement in the area, but Kurtz refuses to accept this truth, as it would mean his downfall. It is hard for anyone to accept defeat, especially when it is a matter of life and death, but once Kurtz is on death’s door, he has a fleeting moment of clarity. A revelation, if you will, which is synonymous with the genre of the apocalyptic film.