I saw this movie on TV by the merest chance. Inspite of its long, long running time(as many as 3 hours and 22 minutes), I never felt tedious. Rather, I was totally mesmerized by the gloominess. This movie is based on the famous novel, “heart of darkess” written by Joseph Conrad. Though there are some chances such a location between the novel and the movie, the main theme is consistently maintained.
The famous director, Francis ford Coppola shows us human being’s madness to its end point through battleground of Vietnam War. Most of this movie is featured by Captain Willard(Martin Sheen), but real hero was Colonel Kurtz(Marlon Brando). Colonel Curtz’s every words and behaviors are very calm but sensitive. The movie is on the track of battle and its awful scenery with dry tone like a documentary film. And the movie shows various types of men who are exposed to the war. Each of them have their own characteristics.
One of representative cases is Lt. colonel Kilgore(Robert Duvall). He is a gung-ho commander who likes Wagner, surfing and napalm. In other point of view, real psycho is Lt. colonel Kilgore. He shouts at his man to surf in the combat and bombarded with Wagner’s music.
In the novel, an errant commander builds his kingdom in Congo, but in this movie Kurtz settles his nest at Cambodia. He is the symbol of an absolute power, authority and god himself. Willard ws ordered to assassinate Kurtz, but he is wrapped by unnamed fear and chaos. But he confirms his decision and murders Kurtz. It’s like the silent carnival of fantastic images and dark tone. All scenes before Kurtz’s show-up are a sign for characterizing Kurtz’s world. And a final word from Willard is “Fear”.
What is fear? Surely it could be fear of war, fear of inhumanity. But it means fear itself, the original fear which we have had since we are born. This cynical and impure movie gisves profound messages.