Apocalypse Now Redux
Screening: 7 April 2003
USA 1979 (2001)
202 minutes
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Leading players - Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen.
Synopsis
The film tells about a US Army assassin’s (Sheen) mission, both a mental and physical journey, to ‘terminate’ a dangerously lawless warlord and former Colonel (Brando) who rules a band of native warriors in the jungle. Coppola’s masterpiece chronicles the harrowing conflict of optimistic innocence and reality in the Vietnam conflict. It remains a brilliant evocation of the madness and horrors of war.* * * * * *
Apocalypse Now (1979) is producer/director Francis Ford Coppola’s visually beautiful, groundbreaking masterpiece with surrealistic and symbolic sequences detailing the confusion, violence, fear, and nightmarish madness of the Vietnam War. The original version was six hours long and had to be severely edited which would indicate that there was more to be seen of this film. Hence this new and greatly lengthened version. This war story’s screenplay, written by John Milius and Coppola himself (with a separate credit for Michael Herr for Sheen’s narration), became a metaphorical backdrop for the corruptive madness and folly of war itself for a generation of Americans.Francis Ford Coppola described his own motivation in the making of the ‘quest’ film, with elements borrowed from the horror, adventure and thriller genres: “to create a film experience that would give its audience a sense of the horror, the madness, the sensuousness, and the moral dilemma of the Vietnam War.” Great as this film is it should not be forgotten that the drive behind it is Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novella Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s text is much more than inspiration but is responsible for the awesome tension and building claustrophobia.
The finished piece in its 2001 version is reminiscent of the Director’s Cut of Blade Runner in that it demands more of the viewer and rewards for the extra work. At a time when Director’s Cuts should largely have been left on the cutting room floor this is worth the effort. A film that should be seen on a big screen at least once in a lifetime.
