Apocalypse Now

I have heard many references to this 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola. The story tells of Special Operations Agent Willard played by Martin Sheen. Willard is assigned the job of journeying up river into Cambodia, not a war zone at the time, and terminating a renegade Colonel who has established his own independent fighting unit of native tribesman.Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, hovers over the movie.

As the story is set in Vietnam I was not aware that the film is based on the Conrad novel Heart of Darkness. Certainly however it does fit, the scene and century is different but the tail of going up river in a hostile area to find a white man gone power mad with locals as his army is one that transfers.

As Willard starts on his mission he meets interesting characters played by Robert Duvall and others including a very young Laurence Fishburne.

When he arrives far enough into Cambodia to reach the Colonel's stronghold he is allowed entry. There he meets a hopped up photographer played by Dennis Hopper, played very authentically I might add and eventually is brought into the presence of Kurtz.

Brando first appears on screen with his face hidden. His impact on the movie is severe. Though he appears in a limited way over the last quarter of the movie only, knowing that he will be in the movie makes one wait for the moment. Head shaved, voice a rasp Kurtz spins tales and lessons, soliloquy's only he understands.

At the movie's climax Sheen and the one survivor of his crew leave the village with Kurtz last words of " The horror, the horror" ringing in their ears.

I thought this was a good movie, but not a great one. Still some of the scenes are iconic and deservedly so. Brando was an amazing actor and Sheen does not overact in his role, in many ways his voice is in the narration advances the story as much as his actions on the screen.