Apocalypse Now
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by Francis Ford Coppola and John Milius
1979/US
IMDb page
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Willard: If that’s how Kilgore fought the war, I began to wonder what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn’t just insanity and murder; there was enough of that to go around for everyone.
Fabulous photography, thought-provoking story and fine acting make this one of the greatest anti-war movies.
World-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is assigned a top-secret mission to “terminate with extreme prejudice” rogue Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has developed a cult like following deep in the jungle of Viet Nam.
Willard travels upstream on a patrol boat through horrible carnage and bombing. We get to know and like the young crew which gets picked off one by one.
Willard’s own mental state is fragile. As he travels down the river amid surreal scenes of American pop culture and horrible suffering, Willard comes to understand Kurtz. This sets up the tension in the third act about whether Willard will be able to carry out his mission or will join Kurtz in the heart of darkness. With fabulous performances by Dennis Hopper as a Kurtzian photojournalist, Robert Duvall as a surf-obsessed airborne officer, and Frederick Forrest and Laurence Fishburne as crew members.
I was not exactly in the mood to watch a film about man’s inhumanity to man. But as soon as I was into it, I was more impressed with its amazing technical accomplishments and genius than on previous viewings. A masterpiece.
Vittorio Storaro won an Academy Award for his fabulous cinematography. The film was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Robert Duvall), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
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