"Apocalypse Now" Review

I chose the move "Apocalypse Now" because it has always been my favorite movie. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and was released into theaters in 1979 by United Artists. The movie itself is based of the book "heart of Darkness" written by Joseph Conrad and it takes place during the Vietnam War. The movie stars Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen, as well as may well known actors such as Harrison Ford and Robert Duvall. The central character is US Army Captain Benjamin Willard who is given a mission to assassinate Special Forces Colonel Walter Kurtz, who has barricaded him self deep within the jungle of Vietnam, and has been declared insane by the United States Army. 

One major theme in the movie is clearly the horrific violence that took place all throughout the Vietnam War, and there are many scenes that show the extreme hypocrisy of  the United States reasoning for being there in the first place. The main character struggles with the fact that killing has become something that no one really thinks about, and sees everyone in Vietnam as an enemy, even though he has been trained to think nothing of it.Another theme throughout the movie is the metal struggle of the soldiers to cope with what is going on around them. Particularly at the end of the movie when they do eventually find Colonel Kurtz, his mental state has become so skewed that you wouldn't even believe he was a highly trained Special Forces Colonel.

The cinematography throughout the film is extremely well done, making it a visual masterpiece, even though the technology used to shoot the film is not as high tech as it is today. Coppola made sure to depict every scene as if you were right there with the soldiers, and I would recommend everyone sees this movie at least once in their life.