Apocalypse Now (1979)

 

Dommedag nu

“Apocalypse Now” is another one of those movies I was convinced I had watched before, but now, watching it for my review, I am not so certain. Beside a few iconic scenes, this felt like a first watch. It is possible though that in the past I simply did not understand it and zoned out. I still cannot say I fully understand it, but I do appreciate what it is doing.

Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is a war-weary special ops agent sent out into the jungle to “terminate” the rogue colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has gone insane. Willard is not exactly stable himself at the opening of the movie and his journey upriver to find Kurtz becomes a voyage into the madness of war. It is an odyssey up the river Styx or down the rabbit hole with encounters like vignettes on the way. Willard makes the journey on a small navy boat with a crew of four, Chief (Albert Hall), Chef (Frederic Forrest), surfer Lance (Sam Bottoms) and a very young Laurence Fishburne as Mr. Clean. In the course of the journey these four feel the weight of the madness and transition from decent young men to more primal forms as sanity slips away.

The most famous encounter is likely the one with Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall) and his cavalry regiment. They have exchanged their horses with helicopters, but otherwise kept very much to being a cavalry unit. With loudspeakers on the helicopters blaring Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” they are vengeance from above and as a viewer I am struck with the awe of watching the formation of helicopters fly and the horror of the death and destruction on the ground. Kilgore himself is more interested in surfing than the battle and is super excited to be meeting the professional surfer Lance and it gets entirely absurd when he changes to trunks and takes out his board while under heavy fire. This is also where we get the (in)famous quote: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning […] it smells of victory”. That apocalyptic destruction is equated with victory is very much at the heart of the movie.

Another striking, but less famous sequence is the scene with the tiger. Chef and Willard are looking for mangos in the jungle while Chef tells his story. He was under way to become a high-end chef when he was drafted. In the navy, they were presented with beautiful, first-rate beef, but instead of respecting the quality, all of it was thrown in the vats to boil. “It just turned gray”. A good and sad allegory of young people with lots of potential getting mashed into conformity by the military.

By the time Willard reaches Kurz, the movie has taken on an almost surreal form. With the haze and the scenery, we are not in the normal world anymore, but has reached the Hades at the end of Styx. People here are savage natives, now ruled by the barbaric and insane God-king Kurz. He has killed off most of his own men who are hanging and lying mutilated everywhere and is worshipped by a photo journalist (Dennis Hopper) as his priest.

I cannot say I entirely understand the end sequence in Hades. There are clearly thick allusion to mythology here with the sacrifice of a cow and the rule and fall of Kurz, but I can only partly parse it. It is not anymore about sides in a war, but about the nature of human cruelty and divine urge for destruction. Obliteration of humanity and civilization and a regression into apocalyptic barbarism.

There is no doubt that “Apocalypse Now” was and is a strong anti-war statement. The comment is not on good or bad sides but on what the nature of war does to humanity. On that agenda, it is very convincing and I have no doubt there is a lot of truth to it. This does not make it a pleasant view though. There are many places where the horror and the sadness is overwhelming and the loss of humanity and sanity is devasting to experience. But “Apocalypse Now” also manages to balance a fascination and tension with the horror so we cannot look away and despite the misery feast, the movie does not feel too long. The version I watched was the Final cut, which is somewhere between the theatrical version and the Redux version and I think the additions do make sense. Especially the visit to the French plantation.

“Apocalypse Now” is also an impressive movie to look at. The cinematography is striking, and my copy had an exceptionally high quality. It is amazing and disturbing that death and destruction can look… beautiful?

This is a movie with a massive impact on the viewer and a very long legacy. It did get a lot of Academy nominations, but only won Best Cinematography and Best Sound. 1979 was a very strong year, but I cannot help thinking that the downbeat mood and the mysterious ending cost it a few wins. Yet, I do not think it should be changed in any way. It goes off the rails for a reason and that reason is the point of the movie.

It will probably be a long time until I watch “Apocalypse Now” again but Coppola’s vision is a must see and it is probably the most important film of 1979.