Blog#8 RGV

Coppola's Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier (Redux) is allegorical of the United States' participation in the Vietnam War. An allegory uses symbolic, fictional characters and plot elements to convey underlying themes that are representative of characteristics present in the real world. These themes often deal with controversial moral, political, or social topics raised by momentous historical events. In his film, Coppola develops fictional characters such as Kurtz in a particular way in order to illustrate significant attributes of the Vietnam War. Some of the qualities of the war portrayed in this film are the transformations American soldier undergo, the utter confusion, and the atrocity of war.
The first scene of Apocalypse Now consists of the protagonist, Willard, laying on a hotel bed in Saigon commenting on his absence from the jungle. He talks of how every time he wakes up, he has to come to the realization that he is not in the field; he wishes to leave Saigon. When the camera pans to the rotating ceiling fan of the hotel room, Willard can only hear the spinning of helicopter blades. Before he is told of the mission that he is about to embark upon, Willard is seen chugging alcohol and practicing martial arts in a bloodied frenzy. These several opening scenes illustrate that the protagonist has suffered from the many hardships of war and is a changed man because of them. In addition, Willard's association of the ceiling fan with chopper blades, crazed practice of martial arts, and possible alcohol abuse indicate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
When the protagonist is briefed on his upcoming mission, he is told to terminate Kurtz. Kurtz is an extensively decorated and highly commissioned officer who, at one time, represented the epitome of a United States military success story. He is an excellent representation of a soldier who lost his innocence and sense of normalcy to the war, though, and at the time of the film can be found in the heart of Cambodia acting as the demi-god over a group of natives. The US military has deemed Kurtz insane and in need of elimination, but it has told Willard that this mission "does not exist." As Willard begins his journey to find Kurtz, he remarks on the difference between the six Vietnamese men he has previously killed and their difference from his new target, an American officer.
The concept of an American killing another American who is superior in military rank as a part of a mission is largely representative of the confusion present in the Vietnam War. Willard does not fully comprehend the purpose of his mission, Kurtz's background, or how Kurtz came to assume the role he currently occupies in Cambodia. Typically, a military mission is rather straightforward and consists of group of men eliminating an enemy target, collecting intelligence, or capturing an objective. The idea of a traditional enemy is completely distorted in this case, though, because Kurt is an American officer. Therefore, the content of the mission creates no clear moral or logical motivation for all those involved in it similar to the missions undertaken by American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
The "nonexistence" of Willard's assignment to locate and terminate is also symbolic of the lack of knowledge and general confusion felt by the American people. Throughout the war, Americans received mixed messages as to the reason for their country's military presence and progress in Vietnam due to the United States' need to promote a positive image of the war. In the film, the US military's desire to keep the secrecy of Willard's mission is symbolic of the methods the government used during the Vietnam War to prevent the public from knowing of its negative aspects. Despite the US government's best efforts, events like the MyLai massacre were publicized, reached the public, and swayed the people's opinion of the war. If the objective of Willard's mission were to be released to the public, the American people would most likely view the war signficantly more unfavorably. They would wonder how capable American soldiers were in a war so ugly that it transformed one of America's finest, Kurtz, into a savage demi-god.
The protagonist's boat journey down the river in Cambodia to complete his mission is an ongoing theme that is symbolic of the transformation a soldier goes through due to the horror of war. As Willard travels further and further down the river, he finds himself more directly exposed with the hardships of war. In addition, as Willard experiences more of the war, his group of men are considerably transformed by the death that constantly surrounds them. This transformation symbolizes the concept that the more time a soldier spent in the war, the more different he became in relation to the man he was when he entered the war. When Willard reaches his destination, he finds the savage display that is Kurtz's civilization and the height of all the cruelties of the film. Willard finally kills Kurtz, but as he dies, he says softly, "The horror...the horror." Kurt's final words are an excellent representation of how horrible the war was and, as a consequence, how greatly it could change even the strongest of men.