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================== Apocalypse Now

The thoughts and purposes of the film Coppola yearns, revelling in leading that art, now glorious.

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Apocalypse Now was created no doubt to serve a variety of purposes of its time. Ranging from exposing the hypocrisy to the futility of American involvement in Vietnam, and questioning the extent of American control in Vietnam, this film explores key issues that were centre stage during the Vietnam War. t was through this film that !oppola hoped to explore to the fullest extent the true story behind this war and put it behind him, and he has done "ust that# the film shows the war in stark clarity, without any of the lies that obscured the war itself during those fateful years. Without a doubt, the most prominent aspect of the film is its attack on the hypocritical stance that American troops take in relation to this war, and this is revealed in several ways. And perhaps the most representative character of this trait is $ieutenant %ill &ilgore, a veteran from the !ivil War, who is full of bravado and confidence, and who outwardly maintains a fa'ade of moral honour and integrity. (et this is all thrown into question by the scenes in which he participates in battle, which is when Willard first meets him. )he various shots of him helping the in"ured to safety and treating a Vietcong soldier *who fights on the opposite side of the war+ to a drink from his own flask evokes a sense of admiration at his philanthropic and caring nature. (et this is severely undermined, to the extent that it is revealed as hypocrisy, by various shots of him, for example, when he orders his soldiers to ,bomb back the tree line about a hundred yards- only so that they can ,give .him/

some room to breathe-, and in that same scene of his offering water to the V! soldier, his compassionate act is forgotten in wake of the possibility that a famous surfer may be amongst them. )his discrepancy between outward appearances and true nature is again highlighted in his decision to attack the village simply because the waters there were supposedly good for surfing. As they fly towards the village, Wagner0s Ride of the al!yries is played, seeming to suggest that they themselves were similar to the godly warriors of 1orse mythology. %ut this stands in stark contrast to the brutal slaughtering that occurs at a village initially depicted as peaceful and tranquil, with shots of communal activities and children gambolling, a slaughter that results in a fiery inferno engulfing this seemingly innocent place, all filmed with high shots dominating the footage at this point, suggesting the helplessness and pwerlessness of the villagers to stop this act, whether they were on the enemy side or not. )hus &ilgore is perhaps the most perfect example of such hypocrisy, even to the extent that Willard dryly comments, ,!harging a man with murder in this place is like handing out tickets at the ndy 233-. Another aspect the film explores to great depth is the question of whether America is truly in control of affairs in Vietnam, and to this end, also comments on the role that the media plays in broadcasting this war around the world to the American public. At the beginning, !aptain Willard is effectively trapped in 4aigon, languishing in a kung5fu prowl like a trapped animal, and bordering on madness, when the apparently highly official and professional pair of army officials summon him to the ntelligence !ompound in the Vietnam war6one, establishing initially a suggestion of the highly civilised and proper conduct of the American army. ndeed, the ntelligence compound itself represents this appearance of order and complete control, with American furnishings and relatively extravagant meals such as the roast beef being served. %ut "ust as the symbolic dropping of &urt60s file seems to suggest their inability

to keep a leash on the !olonel in Vietnam, the Americans do not in fact maintain a stable and well managed operation. 7ven !aptain Willard0s "ourney himself up the river into !ambodia suggests this, for while Willard remains calm, even in the face of the danger from a pouncing tiger, maintaining a cool and composed demeanour, the army outposts are in great upheaval and disarray. )he various stations that !aptain Willard stops by in on his "ourney upriver symbolically become more and more disorganised and by the end, chaotic and bordering on madness. )he station that hosted the playboy bunnies received Willard with little coherence, if at all, and the show degenerates into chaos as the men wild in primal lust descend into an almost savage plane of being. %ut at 8o $ung %ridge, the last 94 army outpost on the river, matters are worse, as when questioned ,where0s the commanding officer-, one of the soldiers responds, ,ain0t you:-, prompting Willard to make the revelation that ,there0s no fuckin0 !; here-. )his chaos is further emphasised by the various cinematic techniques employed such as the strong contrast in the lighting of the scene between white and black, creating flitting shadowy forms, and the camera held as if by a filmer who is on foot, adding a chaotic quality to the shot. ;verall, this deterioration of American orderliness the further into Vietnam they go is representative of the tentative grasp on control that Americans have. n an additionally commentary on this matter, !oppola has several scenes depicting the effect of the American media and their presence in Vietnam. <or example, when Willard first enters the fray, where he first meets $ieutenant &ilgore, he encounters a small band of filmers as he makes his way ashore, and when he pauses to glance at the camera, the cameraman says to him ,8on0t look, "ust keep going# )his is for )V-. )his is a statement by !oppola on the film industry trying to film only what people expect to see, of battle5hardened veterans who valiantly battle for the glory of the American nation, instead of youthful, inquisitive first5timers who are distracted by the mere presence of a

camera. And it should be worth noting that camera crews are only present in these initial military outposts and battlefields, filming the events closer to the Vietnam headquarters, where there is a false sense of civilised behaviour, in comparison with further upriver where there is more disorderly conduct and lack of control, and where there are no media reporters. )his shows the skew of the media, the tendency of the pictures that the American people received at home to be biased towards depicting American authorities in a powerful and commanding position. %ut in addition to all this, !oppola also suggests in his film that there is a certain futility and uselessness about the war, both in the effects on the country0s inhabitants, and on the soldiers who participate in the war. n fact, the film opens with !aptain Willard in 4aigon, who while not actively on duty in Vietnam, is languishing in self5inflicted isolation because he cannot fit back into society effectively after the ordeal he has gone through, and he mentions that he has divorced his wife, which in light of the circumstances, we can come to the conclusion that this is due to the war. )he suggestion here is that war tears families apart, and dissolves relationships, and has such a profound effect on the soldiers who participate in the war that they cannot be integrated back into society anymore afterwards, as in fact was the case in real life. =erhaps one of the most poignant moments that illustrate this is the death of !lean, a soldier of merely eighteen years of age. When the mail was delivered to the boat, !lean receives a pre5recorded tape of his mother speaking to him, talking about domestic matters and the possibility of them buying a car if he returns. )he distance between events in Vietnam and domestic matters halfway around the world back at home is further emphasised here by the use of a tape player, speaking with only the disembodied voice of his mother, suggesting how far removed he is from these events being related to him. And as the final punch line, !lean is killed "ust as the tape of his mother wishes him a safe return, and tells him to ,do the

right thing- and ,stay out of the way of the bullets-. )his is a startling reminder of "ust how futile and sad this war is by suggesting the despair that will be felt, and further plays on the ideas of the war breaking apart social relations. )here is another interesting mechanism at work here, in that the Americans who come to fight in Vietnam do not really belong in this country. )his is characterised by the formality and pretentious order of the ntelligence !ompound, the artificially coloured smoke *such as the orange and purple+ which stands out in stark contrast the the leafy and earthy tones of the natural Vietnamese landscape, and episodes such as their encounter with the sampan boat, where miscommunication between the two parties leads to regrettable conflict. t is through this that we get a balanced dilemma, where both the American soldiers so heavily influenced by Vietnam during the fighting cannot return to America, nor can America in all its difference adapt and blend into Vietnam. )his emphasises the pointlessness of the war, where two disparate sides attempt in vain to fight one another, and with no clear and "ustifiable end, and, as the ntelligence !hief ironically puts it, their ,methods were ;verall, !oppola sets out to explore the war, and he has succeeded in making both an en"oyable film that also serves a second purpose> to inform the audience about the horrors and the suffering that occurred during this war. Whilst skewed slightly to a more critical and condemnatory viewpoint, !oppola has nevertheless managed to create a remarkably close reproduction of the events as they happened during the war, and exposes the futility, lack of control and the hypocrisy of the whole affair. n short, Apocalypse Now is a film which sets out to criticise the Vietnam war and American involvement, and provides a rare insight into the chaos and madness behind the enemy lines. unsound-.

7ssay by who: $ook at the first letters of each word in the quotation.

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