Apocalypse Now commentary by Jenna Johnson
As we all know, “Apocalypse Now� could be defined as both a pro-war film and an anti-war film. It was more pro-war, however, especially in showing the spontaneous brutality of American soldiers towards the Vietnamese people. One strong situation in which the misuse of American power was shown was the boat scene on the river, where Willard and his crew shot down an innocent family.
More than that, however, this film was a prime manifestation of the strangeness of war, and the different ways that people coped and reacted with what they experienced in Vietnam. As Tomasulo puts it, this was “an abstract and philosophical cinematic meditation on good and evil, light and dark.� Kurtz was first mentioned as being the “evil� product that had somewhat been manufactured by his time in Vietnam, which is why he was set to be exterminated by Captain Willard, the necessary and default “good� who was to destroy Kurtz. Even in its cinematography, the themes of “light and dark� were demonstrated, especially in scenes surrounding the strange community that Kurtz has created.
As far as demonstrating what war was like to the American people, “Apocalypse Now� did accomplish that. However, it did not necessarily give citizens a sense of closure, and definitely not a sense of solace. Removing Willard and Kurtz from associations with good or evil, we remember Willard in the opening scenes of the movie, and his manic behavior, and we remember Kurtz and his “unsound methods.� With these things in mind, it is clear that Willard and Kurtz were almost on the same plane of psychological disarray. As Tomasulo also describes, “the growing similarity between Willard and Kurtz had been preordained from the beginning. Both men were defined as psychotic military officers from the outset.� With this opinion, it is clear that the film showed a drastic effect on anyone who went to war, so imbedded in these characters that American people would find it hard to believe that any such experience by their own troops could be obliterated from their pasts.