Apocalypse Now
From the hypnotic opening shot (with Jim Morrison almost acting as the voice of God as he sings “The End”) to the solemn final minutes, Francis Ford Coppola’s Grand Masterpiece (worlds better than his beloved Godfather movies) in some ways can be seen as truly the Ultimate Film, seemingly about the Vietnam War but really about the savagery and dark spirit which resides in the human soul and manages to transcend all political ideology about that dark chapter in American history in order to get at a message more pure. In doing so, it nearly cost Coppola his sanity, not to mention the life of star Martin Sheen (due to his heart attack during filming), and untold, unheard of millions towards its production budget whose behind the scenes dramatics were nearly as great as the movie itself. Sheen plays Captain Willard, a soldier / assassin sent deep into the jungles of Nam to take out an American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has gone completely insane and decided to fight the war HIS way, cutting a path of destruction and bloodshed in order to seemingly end the conflict as soon as possible. In doing so, the story sheds light on the meaning of war itself that continues to this day, as to whether American combat troops that continue to fight the War On Terror are actually hampering themselves by thinking that there should actually be RULES involved in fighting against an enemy whom themselves are ruthless and will stop at nothing and stoop to any low to win and / or drive us out, by saying that if we used the full force of our military might (excluding nukes) and deployed soldiers that are actually trained, vicious killers hungry for blood instead of gawky youths who signed up for the military in order to get a free college education and nothing more, we’d probably never have to worry about losing another armed conflict ever again. Kurtz is a man who knows and understands the horror of war, and his philosophy involves embracing that horror and depending on our most depraved, primordial instincts in order to win it, leaving the politics at home and any semblance of law and order at the doorstep. Fascinating, deep stuff, but Coppola supplements that even more by painting a broader picture, as Sheen is taken upriver by a Navy PFC boat manned by mostly young men who seem most at home when partying and having a good time on duty, most notably Lance (Sam Bottoms), whose drug use causes him to mentally disintegrate as the story goes on (not to mention the ACTOR’S real life drug use during the shoot left him an emotional cripple after filming ended). Then there’s Chef (Frederic Forrest) a loudmouthed coward who freaks out at every opportunity, Mr. Clean (a VERY young Laurence Fishburne) who seems to constantly marvel at how far out Nam really is, and Chief Phillips (Albert Hall), who stoically carries Willard to his destination even as he fears that it’s a one way ticket to Hell. This is complimented by other major actors who show up at various times during the story, most famously Robert Duvall (Oscar Nominated here for Best Supporting Actor) as an officer with a love of surfing and an even greater love of blasting the shit out of Viet Cong villages; Dennis Hopper (his brain totally fried on drugs but still improvising brilliantly) as the photojournalist who seems to serve as Kurtz’s prophet; and even Harrison Ford as one of the members of the military brass who gives Willard his mission. Besides the best use of Doors music in a film ever, the score by Coppola’s father Carmine is haunting and evocative, and then there’s the Oscar-winning cinematography by Vittorio Storaro, maybe the greatest cinematic achievement by a Director Of Photography EVER, managing to make Vietnam a beautiful, hallucinogenic place that only seems possible in dreams and nightmares, and giving the entire look of the movie a sheer veneer that can never be replicated by loads of CGI. All this plus so much more combine to make this a film that despite being over thirty years old can never be topped or replicated even as less talented directors and screenwriters continue to reference this (not to mention Duvall’s napalm line) endlessly as if that can substitute for actual talent, but when it comes to a full-on original work of ART that will live forever as arguably the greatest epic story ever, accept no substitutes…
10/10