Review of Apocalypse Now (1979) by Alex H — 31 Aug 2013

Before this film, I have read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which tells of a mission embarked by Charles Marlow to find an agent called Mr. Kurtz, and if you have read my review on the novel, then you would know that overall I like the book, and if you have not, well, now you know. Anyways, I later learned that Francis Ford Coppola (director of the legendary Godfather trilogy) had directed a film loosely based upon the novel, called Apocalypse Now and I read about it. What's interesting is that the film takes place, not in Africa as in the novel, but in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, so I'd thought that I should give the film a try. Plus it has a few Oscar and Golden Globe awards to it, and a Palm d'Or win at the Cannes Festival, so why not?

The story, like Heart of Darkness, is about the search for a man by the name of Kurtz. Instead of Charles Marlow, the protagonist is Benjamin Willard and he is a veteran U.S. army officer who has before this served 3 years in Vietnam. He is asked to return to search for Colonel Kurtz, who went rogue and murdered four Vietnamese people. Along the way upriver, Willard and his boat crew encounters distractions which include communists shooting at them, a false alarm, a stop at an army base for refills and a whole bunch of titties. For those who have read the novel - or rather novella - of course, Willard eventually finds Kurtz, who becomes a leader of an indigenous tribe in the jungle. The film slowly enters its harrowing climax before ending a little too quickly.

This is what I think of the film. It is the first I have seen to be significantly longer than the novella it is based upon. Three quarters of the film drag on quite relentlessly at an excruciatingly slow pace (slower than that of the novella) but somehow, I find myself still more than willing to sit through the three hours of the movie. The acting is amazing. Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall offer spectacular performances (despite the fact that the latter two appear for slightly less than a quarter of the film), especially Duvall (Arthur "Boo" Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird). His portrayal as Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore is perhaps the liveliest thing about the film. For this, Duvall was nominated and won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars and Golden Globes, respectively. Overall execution of the plot is highly effective. The screenplay is also not too bad, drawing some familiar statements from within the original novella. The film could have ended better, however. Apart from the way Kurtz died, I was half-expecting the film to end with Willard informing a family member of Kurtz of what happened to him, as what Marlow did in Heart of Darkness. I was only a little disappointed that Mr. Coppola could have at least given an ending that would give the film a proper closure. Well, that's just me, I guess. At least, they had 'The horror... the horror...'.

Anyway, I find that the film succeeds extraordinarily well in its technical aspects, especially the cinematography and sound effects, both of which won for their respective categories at the Oscars. Almost the entire movie consists of the play and trickery of light to create atmospheres and set moods. There is also the off-centre shots, strong and garish back light, shadow play, light beams and a whole lot of lens flares. It may not be so visually appealing (some of the lens flares are blinding) but I will admit that the cinematography is extremely impressive. Sound effects, perfect. Not missing any details whatsoever. The overall execution is amazing. The war scene in the beginning is simply stunning and dazzling, with sweeping bird's-eye shots and a raging inferno. The score by Carmine and Francis Ford Coppola is not what I would call my type of music, but it is no doubt quite impressive, and it earned them a Golden Globe for Best Original Score.

Overall, quite an impressive epic war film, which somehow seems to stretch longer than its source material despite leaving out the ending of the latter. A harrowing depiction of war and a great tale of duty and honour.