"Apocalypse Now" and Sentiments On War

JOE'S SUMUP: horrifying and superior

(1979) "Apocalypse Now" was only the second movie with an R rating that I ever saw, and the only one I made a point to go and rent, rather than watch it via world wide web. It was March 2006, the U.S. was in the thick of the War in Iraq, and I was at the time raging over the whole debacle. An appropriate time to experience this terrifying film expressing maxims on war some would rather turn their heads from, yet should not.

This movie is not about the Vietnam War. To this day I scarcely know what the Vietnam War was about, and I unlike many took a class on it. This movie is not even about war in and of itself. War movies are "Saving Private Ryan", "Platoon", and "Braveheart". This movie dares to delve deeper. It brings into the open the complex issue, the end justifies the means. It mocks the way bullying sacrifices innocence for ignorance. This movie is not for the faint of heart.

Most know its premise. Based on Conrad's classic "Heart Of Darkness", Ford Coppola and Milius stage 19th-century Congo in 1960s Vietnam, making a clear statement on what they thought of the conflict. Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is given orders to journey up the Nung River in North Vietnam to seek out Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a man once awarded the U.S. military's highest accolades. Kurtz has gone AWOL and has apparently gathered a following of men and natives. Willard is to terminate his command "with extreme prejudice." He accepts the mission, given information on Kurtz's whereabouts and his background. He and his crew enter a series of misadventures during their travels, each a little more unnerving than the other. Robert Duvall's brief performance as the over-exuberant Colonel Kilgore is Oscar nominated and Oscar deserving. While transporting Willard and his boat to the Nung, this perhaps the most enjoyable scene of the film, Kilgore famously blasts Wagner's

"Ride Of The Valkyries" against the backdrops of blaring helicopters, battling the Vietcong, slalloming explosions on surfboards, and an eye-opening napalm strike. To this charismatic crazed commander, the war is clearly very black-and-white. To the more subtle and skeptical Willard, it becomes less and less so.

How could a man abandon his mission, his life, and his family, after climbing so far up the ranks? thinks Willard. How could a person who was once so good become so bad? Better still, how could a person who was so complacent become so motivated? What causes us to snap so abruptly? Every person on earth who knows such change will have their own answer. But this movie offers its own. In the midst of its pure horror shines a bright ray of pure and unadulterated humanity. It makes its points strongly---hatred is wrong, assault is never once the answer, cultures and peoples must at all costs live and let live, rather than kill or be killed. Each segment of Willard's voyage sheds greater wisdom on these maxims. By the last act, one feels so humanized that it almost feels like propaganda. But the logic weaved into the script was brought into being by the very beast it tirades against, and its balance is restored.

These truths come at a price, as the film in its theatrical edit alone is two-and-a-half hours long. I recently went back and watched "Apocalypse Now Redux", a re-edit three-and-a-half hours long (there is also now a third edit nearly five hours long). As "Redux" contributes almost nothing of substance in its extra hour, I recommend the theatrical release. There are also images that the writers wish to place in the minds of its audience, as reminders and warnings. Some say images of war are unhealthy, degrading, or evil. I make no apologies that for me they were not. Disturbing, yes, I'll give them that (I'm not above turning my head). For those who do feel that way, this film is not for them. For those who wish for a greater respect for the most intimate effects that war has, as I did, this movie will gladly oblige. It was crafted I think for our generations. It pays tribute to the kind of war Vietnam was. It was made to lift sheltered souls out of complacency and motivate them. It was made to remind us that the longer we think things through, the quicker we forget our petty skirmishes. It was made as a statement against ignorance and its begotten absolutes.

Ford Coppola did it again, proving his vigilance as a vigilante. It's too gritty a movie in my book to give it full credit, but he gets my praise for this haunting masterpiece. Running time: 153 min./202 min.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788