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Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is widely regarded as the most iconic war film of all time. There are multiple levels of cinematic excellence in the film, ranging from the soundtrack, lighting, set design, and, consequently, destruction. In a time of political and international uncertainty, this cinematic masterpiece can remind us of how to act in out-of-body moments.
The 1979 film was shot in the Philippines, which is ironic considering the topic of the movie and the documentation of America’s aggressive imperialism of other nations, such as Vietnam. But the plot follows the film’s main character, U.S. Army Captain Benjamin, played by Martin Sheen, who has struggled with PTSD since his last appearance in Vietnam.
In the opening scene, he shares, "I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce," and with that, he leaves his family and returns to the one thing he feels he can do well: serve in the military. After praying for a new mission, Captain Benjamin is requested at Field Force Headquarters in Nha Trang.
His mission is to find the disgraced Colonel Walter Kurtz, who has abandoned his post and gone rogue. Captain Benjamin learns everything he can about the MIA Colonel. Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, is on a violent rampage from Vietnam to Cambodia, where he eventually sets up camp in a Khmer temple. Captain Benjamin finds friends in his fellow soldiers, such as Chief Petty Officer George Phillips, played by Albert Hall, and Jay “Chef” Hicks, who is played by Frederic Forrest. Unfortunately, in the process of finding Kurtz, similar to every day in Vietnam, many innocent Americans die. As they travel toward Cambodia, the majority of the crew is killed, including the Chief and Chef. This is important because even though the mission is successful, the viewer doesn't feel any relief; there has been so much destruction along the way.
When they get to the camp, the remaining crew realizes that over time, Kurtz has generated a huge following of indigenous Vietnamese people, commonly referred to as Montagnards, of all ages. The viewer doesn't meet Kurtz for the majority of the film, and when he is revealed, the lighting is dramatic and harsh.
Similar to modern-day politicians, Kurtz is a god-like creature in the camp and has a blinding command over everyone – including an American photojournalist who is there to document Kurtz but has become entranced alongside the thousands of people.
The resolution of the film comes when Captain Benjamin kills Kurtz while being followed by Kurtz's previous disciples, or "children" as the photojournalist calls them.
Over the years since the film’s release, Coppola has done a multitude of interviews discussing his creative process when filming the movie. Even though the film’s original running time was two hours and thirty minutes, Coppola re-cut the film and added twenty minutes of footage. He has discussed why he felt he needed to add more to the film, explaining that because he owned the film, he was able to have the creative freedom to go back.
There are a lot of critical messages in the film: the danger of un-checked power trips, war in general, and the importance of going to therapy. But the most interesting message that I took from the film is the decision that Benjamin makes after he kills Kurtz. As he stares out over the people, he takes a long time to come back to reality. We don’t know what Benjamin thinks about in that moment, but he seems to look over his whole life in the span of a few short moments. He decides to go back to America and serve the Red, White, and Blue, but the viewer is left wondering: What if?
What if Benjamin chose power over morality, violence over peace? What does that look like?
This moment reminded me of the current political climate and the way that the decisions between power and democracy do not seem to weigh the same as they did in previous administrations. The way that the prioritization of life seems to fall to the wayside in the face of a billion-dollar military budget, and thousands of innocent people are killed every week across the world. Every day, there is a moment where a person in power must make the same decision as Captain Benjamin: loyalty or greed, and yet no one takes a second to pause.
