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Rating: 5 out of 5
“The horror … the horror.”
– Colonel Walter Kurtz
Apocalypse Now is by far one of the best war movies that describe the Vietnam War. One that everyone should watch not for the historical atmosphere of the war but the tone and way of life that was established during the war. Directed, produced, and written by Francis Coppola, Coppola displays a fantastic but intense, gritty, and well-developed movie that shows the horror and madness that it had on several people.
My dad arrived in Vietnam and was assigned to the 1st Battalion 9th Marines. I never knew how important this battalion was. The unit was given the nickname “The Walking Dead.” This was way before the zombie TV show. There were other Walking Dead that walked the earth. The 1st Battalion 9th Marines was a unit that sustained the highest casualty rate of any unit in the Vietnam War. As my dad explained, “I didn’t understand the exact origin or meaning of the name, but it became very known to me two months into my tour.”
The 36-man patrol that my dad was apart of was ambushed by the North Vietnamese Army. During the firefight, my dad was one of only two survivors to live the attack. What followed after that was astonishing. My dad and the other survivor were lost in the jungle for 58-days with only their weapons and survival instincts to keep them alive. What hells and horrors did my dad go through during his time in Vietnam? What demons did he see while out in those jungles?
Apocalypse Now begins at the height of the war in Vietnam. U.S. Army Captain Willard (Sheen) sits alone in his hotel room in Saigon. He is suffering from PTSD and in a battle with his own mind. He doesn’t want to be in the war, but life at home bores him. What he craves is a mission to appease his appetite. After days of waiting, Willard receives his wish when he is sent on a mission by Colonel Lucas (Ford) and a General to carry out a mission. In their words, this mission “does not exist – nor will it ever exist.” The mission is to seek out the once, promising but mysterious Green Beret Colonel Walter Kurtz (Brando). Colonel Kurtz men have crossed the border into Cambodia. They are conducting hit-and-run missions against the Viet Cong and NVA. The army believes that Kurtz has gone AWOL along with going completely insane. The military requested that Willard search and destroy Kurtz. Through his research and classified files, Willard learns that Kurtz is one of the most decorated officers in the U.S. Army and had the potential to become a general. Willard, gaining a crew, sets up the Nung River on a U.S. Navy patrol boat. As Willard travels up the river on his mission, he sees the real horrors of the war. His accent to Kurtz is only met with his own demons that are all around him.
After watching this film, there is only one way I can describe the overall story and feel and tone to it. It is a descent into Hell. Yea that is right. A descent into the depths of hell just like Dante’s Inferno all the way to the ninth circle where he comes face to face with his mission. Through all of it, he is met with different situations that make this film move so well that it will leave you wanting more and on the edge of your seat. There are very few soft spots in this film. We are introduced to Willard in his hotel room in Saigon. He is miserable, has significant PTSD, and hallucinates. This is his Limbo/Purgatory. He doesn’t know what to do with himself. Home doesn’t feel right has he states his wife is more than welcomed to divorce him, but he also doesn’t want to be away from the fighting as he seems to be getting weaker. All he wants is a mission or as he puts it one last mission. Be careful about what you wish for because it just might become real. Sure enough, he gets what he really wants a mission to assassinate a highly decorated colonel.
Willard takes the mission, and here is the start of his descent into hell. As you watch, there is always an ominous orange glow around the scenes of the movie, especially at the beginning. Just this freaking orange atmosphere. Willard finds his crew and sets off on a boat. To get where he needs to be, he must call upon a “cavalry” to get them to the start. Now, this is where you’re like holy s**t! The introduction of Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall), his helicopter crew and helicopter attack is one of the best in movie cinema. It will honestly leave you in awe. Col. Kilgore rides into a small Vietnam village. As they ride in and clear the way, they play over the loudspeakers Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as they swoop down and almost kill everyone. To make the land so Col. Kilgore can surf, he calls in a Napalm attack. It is a thing of cinema beauty. That’s when Duvall delivers one of the best lines and speeches in the movie cinema: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like … victory.”
Coppola continues his story of descent into the dark world of hell as the boat continues its journey upstream. You would think it would be simple, but nope, the deeper the crew goes, the crazier it gets as none of the crew seem to trust any of the outside world or what they are looking at. There is a situation where the boat stops at a small fishing boat with a family. Tensions are high as Willard and the crew continuously yell at the family. When a girl runs towards something, the machine gunner gets a little jumpy and opens fire, which makes everyone else open fire on the boat. Everyone is pretty much dead, but the girl who is clinging to life. The boat chief asks for help, but Willard straight up walks over and puts a bullet in her. Cold-blooded s**t right there.
Another scene that you know the world isn’t right is when Willard and his crew make a stop at this station with a tower. It is filled with circus lights, and the enemy seems to be yelling all around. Willard goes looking for gasoline. He walks through the trenches when he stops by one solider who has clearly lost his mind by saying Charlie is all around and continuously fires the machine gun. Willard continues on when he stops by another group of soldiers and asks where the CO is. The men clearly seem lost in the world as they continue to shoot, and a Viet Cong soldier is clearly yelling and irritating them. Now, this is where it gets really crazy. They run over to a soldier who is passed out. They wake him up and ask him to kill the Viet Cong soldier. The man looks around and points his grenade launcher in the air. He makes subtle adjustments and fires. One second the Viet Cong soldier is yelling, and the next, it is complete silence. Once again, hell on earth.
As the boat reaches its destination, Willard comes face to face with Kurtz. A man that is now considered a god amongst the people. A man that Willard has tried to understand but couldn’t for some reason. Kurtz is a man who has seen the horrors of the war. He knew that if he had people like the Viet Cong under his command, the war would’ve been over. Kurtz realized that he needed men who are moral but, at the same time, uses their survival instincts to the maximum. Men that kill without feelings or judgment. Straight killing machines. That is the horror that Kurtz saw so vividly.
Two performances must be praised to the highest of levels. The first is Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore. The dude is a total badass and more. When he is introduced, I was like, “That’s a badass right there.” He hops out of his helicopter with an old Yankee civil war hat. Duvall commands the screen and doesn’t let go. He is a crazy, surfer-loving colonel that wants his world to be like home. Even when chaos is happening all around him when he attacks the village, he stands around as bombs and bullets fly around him, and he is just so calm. All he wants to do is surf.
The second performance is Marlon Brando as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. You wait for the whole movie for the encounter of Kurtz. The full two and a half hours and Brando shows why he is a legend amongst boys. In the first few minutes, we never really see Kurtz. His presence is hidden in the shadows, but Brando makes his voice strong yet so intellectual. Brando commanded the screen with every word and action; he did no matter how subtle it was. Side note: This film also has a fourteen-year-old Laurence Fishburne. You read that right. Morpheus at fourteen. Straight lied on his application and got the role. I’m not mad at you.
Major props need to be given to the cinematography of this film. First, the orange glow that always seemed to be around. Like I said before, it seemed like the environment was a descent into hell. Most of all are the whole helicopter scene with Col. Kilgore. That was one of the most beautifully done scenes I have seen. First, when the helicopters take off, a bugle player sounds off as the men and helicopters take off like a real horse cavalry. That shot is followed by the helicopters flying over the tree line towards you with the ominous orange glow in the background. It is a pretty epic and terrifying sight if you’re on the other end. What adds to the overall scene is loudspeakers Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as the men get their weapons ready. The grand finale of the scene is when the napalm hits. Truly epic and outstanding.
There have been quite a few films made on the Vietnam War, but Apocalypse Now is by far the best movie about the war. It is one of the greatest movies I have seen from the story to the performances. Duvall and Brando stand out most amongst the film. Overall this film shows the heart and soul of what the war was really like. One where the horrors still live in the minds of the soldiers that fought in it today.
