Review of Apocalypse Now (1979) by Cameron H — 11 Jul 2013

How does the song go? "I'll never listen to 'The End' the same way... again?" If you were familiar with the music by The Doors, it would be easy to describe, thematically, Apocalypse Now by drawing parallels to that song. To whoever thought of using the song as sort of a theme song for the movie, good on you, mate.

Apocalypse Now is the definitive war film. Not just for Vietnam War, but any war. The soldiers who were there may not have asked for a war film that cut all of the idealized nonsense, but Francis Ford Coppola was ready to serve anyway. The movie follows Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen), a veteran soldier residing in Saigon long enough to drive a man crazy. He does not reach that point though, as he is soon assigned a mission to terminate a long-standing U.S. officer named Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Rumours tell that he has reached the breaking point, ignoring all military commands and forming his own outpost where he may dwell with his broken self, and anyone that chooses to join him.

Kurtz's outpost is located in the heart of Cambodia, far up a river that Willard and his team must travel by boat. On the way, Willard fights alongside an all-star cast (though the film is what launched the careers of some of these actors), including the napalm-hungry commander Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), Mr. Clean (Lawrence Fishburne, only a teenager at the time), and a hippie journalist (Dennis Hopper). Really, every performance was superb, even from lesser-known actors like Frederic Forrest and Albert Hall.

Before and at the beginning of the breach up through the river are the moments of relief. Certainly some of that relief is comic, especially during the Playboy show for a crowd of horny U.S. soldiers. In a certain light, even the scene of Kilgore leading helicopter squads to gunning down a Vietnam town to the sound of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" is relieving, when the moment is already gone. (By the way, Robert Duvall is irresistible as a war buff. I wish I had a boss like that.).

During the whole boat ride, Willard studies deeply into the personal records of Col. Kurtz. He rapidly grows more sympathetic for Kurtz, as he gets closer to fulfilling his mission. The cross under the Do Lung Bridge is like entering a portal to Hell. The music score maddens with the minds of Willard's crewmates, who do not even know of Willard's mission.

Once Willard does find Kurtz, the film is further sealed as timeless. I give much credit to Martin Sheen for carrying out a first-person narrative so strongly, particularly between his scenes with Marlon Brando as they discuss how the horrors of the Vietnam War never stop consuming one's soul. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who won an academy award for his work in Apocalypse Now, was paying good attention to the dialogue, choosing to shroud Brando in darkness for most of his screen time. The effect is spellbinding.

As a hardcore liberal, I can always back up a message that condemns warfare of any level. That does not mean I cannot appreciate subtlety. In fact, what is most remarkable about the movie is that the idea of war being bad is absent. The message, "Stop the war," is left only to the audience to interpret. Sure, there is that aforementioned dialogue on the horrors, but that is war, right? Coppola carefully designed and arranged the light and dark moments for film buffs of any political stance to appreciate. More than anything, Apocalypse Now stands far above other war films by skipping any underlying opinion on war.