While great films are often understood be extraordinarily good, there are some notable exceptions to the rule. Films can gain their greatness by being important, influential, inspiring or just by being made at the perfect time, which doesn’t mean that they have to be of great quality. Some great films are actually far from perfection. One such film is Apocalypse Now, 1979 war epic directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Film is based on the script originally written by John Millius, itself being based on Heart of Darkness, novella by Joseph Conrad about ivory trade in 19th Century Congo. The general plot, however, is transplanted into 1969 Vietnam and begins in Saigon with Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen), war-weary US covert operative being summoned by his superiors and given a delicate mission deep behind enemy lines. Some time ago, Special Forces Colonel Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando) had been sent deep into the jungle to organise Montagnard tribes as a militia and fight Communist North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong guerillas; while his campaign proved to be successful, Kurtz apparently went insane and stopped taking orders and instead turning his base into private fiefdom surrounded by thousands of tribesmen who worship him like deity. Willard is given order to end this embarrassing situation by simply killing Kurtz. In order to reach his destination up the Nung River, Willard takes US Navy river patrol boat commanded by Chief Petty Officer George Phillips (played by Albert Hall) and begins long and dangerous journey during which Willard and his men would witness or take part in spectacular and disturbing acts of violence and destruction. But nothing will prepare them for what awaits them at their destination.
Made in a time when Hollywood, just like the rest of American society, was genuinely trying to come to terms with the aftermath of Vietnam War fiasco on national psyche, Apocalypse Now took the widely held view of the war as catastrophic mistake. While some may attempt to describe the film differently, mostly based on the iconic character of surf-loving Lt. Colonel Kilgore (played by James Duvall) and his Air Cavalry making short work of Viet Cong in spectacular action that mostly looks like fun, the general tone of the film is unmistakably anti-war. The war for the first time exposed the limits of American power, with the world’s most technological advanced military being defeated by primitive Third World peasants, and it also exposed the thin line that separated noble, civilised and seemingly enlightened American civilisation from murderous, animalistic savagery that manifested itself in genocidal slaughter of millions of innocent women and children. This is the line that almost any character in this film crosses in one way or the other – Willard, his men, Kilgore, Kurtz, masses of soldiers that nearly rape Playboy Bunnies during USO event and even the pen-pushing military bureaucrats in Saigon who take a simple solution for their problem. This view of Vietnam War as irrational descent into insanity has managed to frame general perception of that event to this day. Apocalypse Now, almost immediately hailed as masterpiece following Palme d’Or at Cannes Festival, greeted with enthusiastic reviews and with quite impressive box-office at the time, played crucial role in that process.
Initial success of Apocalypse Now, however, could be explained less by quality of film itself and more with the hype created around its famous New Hollywood director. That hype was further helped by widely publicised problems during production at the Philippines which included logistical nightmares, sets and props being destroyed by storm, main actor Martin Sheen almost dying and rampant alcohol and drug abuse by cast and crew. Those problems, later shown in famous 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, makes the finished film look even more impressive in the context, but they nevertheless don’t justify its major flaws. The cast is superb with almost anyone giving great performances – Duvall as perfect embodiment of military machismo being brought to absurd levels; Frederic Forest as ordinary working class American being thrown into war he doesn’t understand or care about; Sheen as a professional who successfully hides PTSP traumas within himself; even Harrison Ford makes an interesting cameo as menacing officer in Saigon. But that doesn’t include Brando who was obviously miscast for his role and when he finally appears in the last part of the film, Apocalypse Now suddenly loses much of its impact, because audience sees less of a Kurtz and more of Brando as overweight prima dona as he was known in the latter parts of his career. He nearly destroys this film like he would do many years later with Island of Dr. Moreau and only in a moment or two his rambling make sense and allow to see why Brando earned reputation of the greatest actors of all times. Apocalypse Now, while served well by excellent cinematography of Vittorio Storaro and production design by Dean Tavoularis, isn’t helped by rather forgettable music by Coppola and his father Carmine, which can’t compete with iconic use of “The End” by The Doors at the beginning and end.
Coppola famously said about Apocalypse Now that “it wasn’t film about Vietnam, it was Vietnam”, and in some ways the film itself could be seen in same ways as American military misadventure. Despite large resources being involved, it turned out to be messy project and smashed the myth of infallibility of its creators. Coppola himself was never completely satisfied with it, and there are at least three major versions being released from 1979 till 2018, not counting Cannes Festival winner which was actually unfinished. Following this film, Coppola’s career went spectacularly downhill and one of the most celebrated names of world cinema never repeated his 1970s triumphs. It was also a swan song for New Hollywood; only a year later catastrophe of Heaven’s Gate would end the creative freedom and excesses of auteur directors and put major films back under control of producers and studio executives. But, even without being perfect, Apocalypse Now is a great film that deserves audience interested in film history and history in general.
RATING: 7/10 (++)
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