Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now (1979)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper
Memorable Line: "The horror, the horror."

At 18 years old, nothing in my inchoate life prepared me to watch "Apocalypse Now." I simply wasn't prepared to deal with its visceral imagery and it's profound story. The film apologetically jumps off the screen at you and takes you into a nightmarish journey into the Viet Nam war.

Few films have had the impact on me that film had on me in my life. It awed me. It moved me. It scared me somewhat with it's stark and brutal view of war. Yet, it fascinated me and I was completely engrossed in it's setting and situation.

Loosely based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," the film follows Captain Willard (Sheen) who is sent on a clandestine mission to seek out and assassinate a rogue office, Colonel Kurtz, (Brando) who has literally went "off the reservation" of army protocol and humane standards. In fact, when we finally encounter Kurtz, we see almost no standards, but nearly madness.

Willard is accompanied by a rag-tag team of soldiers who are along for the ride, but have no idea what they're in for. The journey is truly one that reveals the madness and chaos of war as the team encounters all the insanity of war -- seemingly purposeless engagements, savage hubris (Duvall as Colonel Kilgore), and the lost (Dennis Hopper as the drugged out photojournalist who is enraptured with Kurtz).

Much has been written about the madness that went into the making of this movie. Months and months past deadline and grossly over budget. Sheen having a heart attack. Brando not being prepared. Plus it the whole process seemed to be about story in search of an ending. (See the wonderful documentary about the making of this movie -- "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse." Watch the movie one night and the documentary the next.)

Still in spite of all of this, Coppola brings us a compelling and entirely engaging movie that holds itself together all the way up until the end. The films seems to start to teeter under the ponderous weight of all it's elements when reaching its climax.

I would qualify "Apocalypse Now" as a near masterpiece and that it overcomes any of its flaws by its far-reaching ambition in scope and vision. It truly is one of the last studio movies I would qualify as an artist in search of a commercially viable picture.

See it if for nothing else for the luscious and brilliant images that cinematographer Vittorio Storaro brings to the film. Images from the movie still come to mind years later.

[NOTE: "Apocalypse Now" is one of the movies that doesn't translate to the small screen well. If you have an exceptional home theater system, you may be able to do the film justice. If you can catch it on the big screen, I implore you to go.]