APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)

‘I watched a snail crawl along the edge of straight razor. That’s my dream; that’s my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of straight razor…and surviving.’

Unarguably one of the finest film ever made on Vietnam War by American cinema. The film was one of the most ambitious and epical project of the man who gave us matchless gem like ‘The Godfather’ and luckily he made all his four greatest films during that decade. The foundation of the film including Kurtz character lies in Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, 20^th century’s one of the most thought provoking work.

During Vietnam War Captain Willard is chosen for a secret US military mission to terminate insane Colonel Walter Kurtz, once the man of impressive career and outstanding military record as special force officer of US army, now set himself as a local godhead of the jungle. Following Willard through the nightmarish hell journey we witness the horror brought by war and knows some of the unsound truths in much awaited Willard’s encounter with Col. Kurtz in the climax- the tour de force of the film.

Next to both the parts of ‘Godfather series’, Director Francis Ford Coppola achieved his excellence of craft along with brilliant work of his all cast and technical crew in the film. It opens with mind-blowing track ‘The End’ by The Doors, Oscar winning sound and cinematography which makes you feel grand for those aerial action sequences and sounds like an opera leading to striking visuals of unfathomable forest. It boasts of incredible performances from Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper and above all Marlon Brando in perhaps his shortest and yet memorable role of his career as Kurtz- the man who gives you philosophical high of the war-

‘I seen horrors, horrors that you’ve seen. You have no right to call me a murderer; you have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that but you have no right to judge me. It’s impossible through words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror…horror has a face…Horror and moral terror are your friends if they’re not than they’re enemies to be feared.’

The film is still applicable to US military’s moral Gestapo stand and the line uttered by Kurtz is still seems so relevant- ‘We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!’

Ratings-9/10