Apocalypse Now (1979)
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando
What is war? Despite the often glorified death-defying acts of patriotism, bravery and camaraderie, isn’t it meaningless murder and mayhem in the end? Isn’t it about human mind losing the last thread of sanity and humanity? Director Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now dwells upon these disturbing questions. Although the film was made in 1979 and dealt with the futility of Vietnam War, even today its despairing depressing take on the incomprehensible inhuman insanity involved in war-mongering makes you shudder to core.
Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s book Heart Of Darkness, this film tells the story of a secret American mission in the midst of a raging Vietnam war. Once a brave soldier but now on the verge of being a mental wreck- Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is called by the American army’s top brass in Vietnam and is given a task to assassinate one of their own, a much- decorated officer -Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). The Colonel has apparently lost his mind and has set up a camp of his devoted followers in a remote, upriver Cambodian island.
As Willard starts his journey towards his supposed prey, he starts seeing the horrors of war like he has never experienced before. A crazy Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall at his best!) ordering carpet- bombing just to clear the beach for surfing; a high-strung young soldier mistaking a little girl’s run for her puppy as a dangerous act and that leading to a needless massacre of an innocent peasant family; the soldier-camps losing control and creating a pandemonium when Playboy models are flown in for entertaining them – these grisly images start making him re-think about war and his mission. Finally the suspenseful journey ends and he lands on the Colonel’s territory. What happens next?
An epic film that was shot in Philippines amidst raging typhoons and which took sixteen months and thirty million dollars to complete, Apocalypse Now is brilliant in the first half but later on the theme repeats itself and narrative becomes laborious and jumbled up. Martin Sheen as Willard- doesn’t say much in the film but his glazed eyes and his background commentary tell the tales of unspeakable terror. Marlon Brando- who very reluctantly acted in the film, somehow manages to hold viewers’ interest with a masterly performance as Kurtz- an army-man who has gone off the edge but the much-anticipated confrontation between Willard and Kurtz never really reaches a logical conclusion.
Despite its much-dissected deficiencies and drawbacks, Apocalypse Now is a great piece of film-making well- worth a watch.
Kesariya Balam
